Holly Holm sets one-to-two fight timeline before retiring from combat sports

Holly Holm is approaching the end of her combat sports career, confirming on The Ariel Helwani Show that she anticipates just one or two fights remaining before the Jackson-Wink MMA standout retires. The disclosure came shortly after the former UFC champion suffered a controversial split-decision loss to Stephanie Han in a boxing match under the Most Valuable Promotions banner.

Holm last competed in MMA at UFC 300 in April 2024, where she was submitted in the second round by Kayla Harrison — who would go on to win the UFC bantamweight title. Since then, Holm has gone 1-2 in boxing and also tested herself in wrestling under the Real American Freestyle banner, keeping active across multiple disciplines as her career winds down.

The 43-year-old entered MMA in 2011 already a multiple-time world boxing champion, and won her first nine fights before delivering one of the sport’s most iconic upsets: a head-kick knockout of the previously undefeated Ronda Rousey at UFC 193 in November 2015. Though her title reign proved brief, that victory elevated Holm to a level of fame that has defined her career ever since.

With Rousey recently returning to action — defeating Gina Carano at a Most Valuable Promotions event on May 16 — speculation briefly surfaced about a rematch with Holm. Rousey quickly shut down the idea, declaring herself retired again and claiming she would “clean [Holm’s] clock” in a second meeting. Holm, for her part, says she has never been the obstacle.

“I don’t think that she really wants to, and I’m not even mad at her for it,” Holm said. “I don’t want someone to get in there and fight if they don’t want to actually fight. Because I want someone who wants it. It’s never been because I said no. I 100% always said [if] she wants a rematch, I’ll give it to her. And I have respect for her. She was the dominant champion, and she is good.”

With one or two fights left on her own terms, Holm says she remains open to big opportunities in either boxing or MMA as she looks to close out a career that has spanned two major combat sports.