Holly Holm on what she wants next

Holly Holm began 10-0 in MMA, capped with decapitating Ronda Rousey to become UFC bantamweight champion. However, Holm lost her first title defense, and then lost two more, and then alternated wins and losses twice. Now, for the first time since 2015, Holm, 38, has back to back wins, after dominating Irene Aldana in the main event of Saturday night’s UFC on ESPN 16.

Holm has received a degree of criticism in her recent fights for a lack of action, but on Saturday night, Holm was all action. Still, at the UFC on ESPN 16 post-fight press conference, “The Preacher’s Daughter” remained herself, always striving for more.

It felt good to just go in there and get a dominating performance and not something that’s just too close, said Holm. There’s fights I’ve had that are brawls and some are in the clinch, and I’m like trying to put it all together and be a well rounded fighter. I felt I was able to do a lot of that tonight, but yes, I always want to do more.

I think just coming over here, it’s just a lot of sacrifice from my team and I just wanted to get in there and I didn’t want to let the time pass me by without making the most out of it. Get out there and get it done. We came this far for 25 minutes, I better at least do something for 25 minutes.

Given the value of her name, Holm is a candidate for a rematch vs. champ champ Amanda Nunes, despite a Round 1 TKO loss at UFC 239 on July 6, 2019. However, Holm was open to come what may.

I’m going to keep working hard, said Holm. That’s what I’m going to do. I know [Nunes] got a lot doing on right now, with another fight already scheduled. There’s some tough girls coming up. I feel like the 135-pound division’s always pretty stacked, so I’m not going to set my sights on something too hard. I’m going to let the opportunity come and the next fight after the next fight. And whatever that may be, I’m going to put my heart and soul into it and do it again.

Germaine de Randamie also earned an impressive win at UFC on ESPN 16, and beat Holm via a controversial decision at UFC 208 on February 11, 2017, for the inaugural UFC women’s featherweight championship.

That’s definitely an option, said Holm. I think everybody probably thought her and I might meet up again in there, so we’ll see what happens. We’ll see where it goes from here.