UFC Fight Island: Holm offers a masterclass against Aldana

With rare exceptions, the more dominant the champion, the more destructive his downfall. While they are at the top of the mountain, defeating all who arrive, there is always a challenger watching and honing their skills to be the perfect match.

The classic case in question is Holly Holm. Already an accomplished boxer – the boxing archive BoxRec has listed her as the greatest female boxer of all time – Holm developed her game with both kickboxing and grappling defense. When she faced then-UFC women’s bantamweight champion Ronda Rousey at UFC 193 in Melbourne, Australia on November 15, 2015, she was the perfect counterpart.

Her second-round knockout victory in head kicks ended the Rousey era and became an immediate highlight that set trends around the world. But with her greatest enemy defeated, that left Holm searching for a new identity as a fighter. From a perfect 10-0 to 12-5 record, Holm found herself losing to female fighters for whom she was not suited, such as submission specialist Miesha Tate and the significantly larger women of the featherweight division, which was essentially created so 65.2-kilogram Cris Cyborg had a place to fight.

Yet at 38, it appears that the American fighter nicknamed “The Preacher’s Daughter” is having something of an Indian summer when she beat Raquel Pennington with a one-sided decision at UFC 246 earlier this year in Las Vegas, Nevada. . and held a clinic against # 5 bantamweight Irene Aldana of Mexico in the first women’s main event at UFC Fight Island.

From the beginning of Round 1, Holm controlled the Octagon. During the first half of the round, he walked Aldana down and then towards the end, circled Aldana in a clockwise direction. This kept her on Aldana’s left-handed side, preventing her from throwing anything more serious than jabs. In the last minute, Holm completely changed his usual boxing and kickboxing style and attempted a takedown, which Aldana defended until the last seconds.

Aldana was most active in Round 2, but found herself on the receiving end of counter combinations and Holm’s favorite, the corps partner. This undermined Aldana’s defense. But in Round 3, Holm’s quick combos were followed or feinted into hard hooks and high kicks to the head.

Every time it seemed Aldana was spotting Holm, she would launch a takedown. Each time it was a fight, and it’s hard to say how good Holm is at grappling since, according to UFCstats.com, Aldana has the best takedown defense of all female fighters in the UFC, yet she managed to repeatedly drag her to the floor with locks. bodywork and damage the floor.

Before Round 4, Aldana’s cornerbacks were honest with their fighter – she had lost three rounds and now needed an ending to win. Having spent an entire standard fight playing defense, she aggressively entered the main event rounds. It backfired, as Holm’s specialty in her MMA and boxing career is countering. She backed away, forcing Aldana to chase after her, and then as she approached, Holm immediately forced her away with long front and side kicks, and the occasional direct hit.

Holm’s nose bled going into the final round, a reflection of Aldana’s power, but it came from a hit in an exchange late in Round 4; otherwise it was complete dominance, and that continued for the last five minutes. Aldana attempted to crush Holm in spots only to find herself going headlong into Holm’s varied and powerful blows. In the final 40 seconds, triggered by an impressive kick to the head to reeling Aldana, Holm seemed to be looking for the end and hit his opponent with everything he had.

Aldana survived and went to the judges. Unsurprisingly, Holly Holm won by unanimous decision (50-44, 50-45 and 50-45). This fight wasn’t just awesome; this was the best Holm ever, even better than as a champion. Holm said after the fight that she didn’t want to be a boxer in the MMA cage, that she wanted to be a mixed martial artist and all the new additions to her fighting style: the takedowns, the level changes, the constant movement, the aggression. – shows that at nearly 40 years old, she is still learning and is definitely a championship contender.