It took three rounds for Holly Holm to land a big strike on Bethe Correia, but when she finally did, she didn’t disappoint.
Holm and Correia headlined that UFC’s return to Singapore , China, and the first round of the fight didn’t feature much action, which led to the referee warning the two women in the second round.
Before the third round started, Correia’s coach told her that she shouldn’t respect Holly Holm, which turned out to be horrible advice, because it led to the former women’s bantamweight number one contender being brutally knocked out by a head kick, courtesy of the former champ.
At the beginning of the third round, after hearing her coaches’ advice, Correia landed a pair of jabs on Holm, and she began to taunt. Holm then responded to the taunt by nailing her with a head kick, which ended the fight.
Prior to Saturday, Holm hadn’t won a fight since her shocking upset win over Ronda Rousey in 2015, as she came into the fight on a three-fight losing streak, with the three losses coming to Miesha Tate, Valentina Shevchenko, and, most recently, Germaine de Randamie.
Earlier this year, the UFC created a women’s 145-pound division, where Holm had another opportunity to become champion. However, as previously mentioned, she failed in that attempt, as she lost to Germaine de Randamie. When they made the fight, the UFC was hoping for a Holly Holm win, as she is one of the bigger draws in the company. Her win was supposed to lead to a super fight with Cris Cyborg, who is now scheduled to fight for the title on July 29 , as she’ll take on Megan Anderson. Originally, the UFC wanted de Randamie to defend the title against Cyborg, but she refused, and it appears that the UFC is stripping her of the title as a result.
Don’t be surprised if the UFC books Holly Holm in another title fight if Cyborg ends up defeating Megan Anderson, which is, more than likely, what will end up happening. So, even though their first attempt at making the match didn’t go as planned, they could get another shot at it if Cyborg takes care of business on July 29.
[Featured Image by Frank Franklin/AP Images]