Holly Holm has admitted she’s “super frustrated” that injuries have halted her challenge for the women’s bantamweight title.
The 40-year-old is a former bantamweight champion, having famously captured the belt off Ronda Rousey –– handing the UFC legend her first loss in the sport.
And though her spell as champion was short-lived, Holm was predicted to fight at least twice in 2021 as she longs for another title shot.
However, the ex bantamweight champion was forced to drop out of both her scheduled fights this year. The American was due to face Julianna Peña back in May but had to pull out because of a kidney problem. Then, in October, her featherweight bout against Norma Dumont was cancelled after she suffered a knee injury.
Now, with Peña having beaten Amanda Nunes to become the new bantamweight belt holder, Holm is gutted she never had the opportunity to fight the former Ultimate Fighter winner.
Speaking to MMA Fighting, she said: “I definitely am on the mend. I hope to be back in there, back training and get back in there. I’m feeling a little better. I had to take care of some things. It’s super frustrating, especially when I see people fighting, especially [Nunes vs. Pena] but all the time.
“Any time I watch the fights, it’s so frustrating because I want to get in there so badly. I don’t want to embrace not being able to fight but I’ve been very fortunate to have a career where I’ve been pretty active. This last year’s had some stuff that’s been kind of from left field. I’m handling it. I’m going to keep pushing forward. I’m not going to let it break me and I want to be back in there very soon.”
Holm stressed she was happy for Peña but conceded it was a tough fight for her to watch, knowing it could have been her in the octagon.
“Congratulations to her. She performed. She went in there and did what she had to do. You don’t really know what’s behind the scenes, what’s really going on. I think Nunes probably wasn’t on her best fight game but there’s no excuses.”
Holm has won her last two fights, the last of which came in October 2020 against Irene Aldana.
While it’s still unknown when her next bout will be, the former champion says she’s ready to face whoever stands in her way, whether that’s Peña or another opponent.
“It’s super frustrating. I want to be right back in there. I want to be able to say hey, I’m ready to fight whoever, whenever. I’m really close to that. It’s super frustrating for sure.
“I feel like anything can happen. It could be any of those names. Anywhere from Pena down to Miesha [Tate], [Ketlen] Vieira, Aspen [Ladd], I feel like anything can happen. I just want to be ready for any of it.”