UFC Fight Island: Holly Holm storms back into title contention in Abu Dhabi

Dubai: She calls herself ‘The Preacher’s Daughter’, but Holy Holm showed her opponent Irene Aldana no compassion as she systematically took her apart for a unanimous decision victory at Fight Island 4 on Sunday morning.

Holm, the former UFC bantamweight champion, and a multiple-time world champion in boxing, used her superior mix of strength, speed, and accuracy to overwhelm Aldana, whose greatest asset was her courage and resilience in a fight the went the full 25-minutes distance.

Holm (14-5), who will turn 39 in three weeks’ time, made a big statement that she deserves to be among the elite fighters of the division and that she was ready for another title fight.

“There are some things that I need to work on, obviously. But I always say that I like to learn from my wins and my losses so that I’m always learning,” Holm said during her post-fight interview insides the Flash Forum Octagon on Yas Island, Abu Dhabi.

“[Aldana] is a mover, just like me, so I had to think of what I would have to do if I was fighting myself in there. Tonight, we were able to put the game plan together and I was victorious.”

However, Holm did not call out a top contender or a rematch against current champion Amanda Nunes, whom she suffered a big loss against last year.

“I like to just let the future hold out. I have a great team around me that worries about that and I just train,” she said.

“I need to just keep working hard. I came to the cage to be a full mixed martial artist and it takes time. I didn’t wrestle for the first time until four weeks before my first MMA fight. I’m still very green and learning, I just want to put it all together.”

Holm’s caution is understandable considering she lost both her featherweight title fights in recent years to former champions Germaine de Randamie and Cris Cyborg.

De Randamie, who has also moved up to bantamweight, was also in action on Sunday morning at Fight Island where she defeated Julianna Pena via third-round submission suggesting that a rematch against Holm was the most obvious path to pursue.

De Randamie picked up a $50,000 bonus for the Performance of the night, one of four handed out by the UFC as a reward for their outstanding performances.

Elsewhere on the card Kyler Phillips continued his winning ways with a brutal second-round TKO, while middleweight up-and-comer Dusko Todorovic made a winning UFC debut with a second-round TKO over Dequan Townsend.

“I’m excited to just do another,” Phillips said. “I just want to fight all the time. This is all I want to do.”

Meanwhile, following five straight defeats dating back to a controversial loss to Robbie Lawler in a welterweight title fight, Carlos ‘The Natural Born Killer’ Condit battered Court McGee for most of the three round preliminary contest to earn a unanimous decision victory.

“It’s been a long one. I’ve had some ups and downs,” the Brasilia said. “Next step forward, whatever it is, keep working; focus on what I’ve got to do. Take care of business.

Performances of the Night

Germaine de Randamie
Kyler Phillips
Dusko Todorovic
Luigi Vendramini

Results

Holly Holm def. Irene Aldana by unanimous decision (50-44, 50-45, 50-45)
Germaine de Randamie def Julianna Pena by technical submission at 3:25 of Round Three
Carlos Felipe def Torgan De Castro by unanimous decision (30-27, 30-27, 29-28)
Kyler Phillips def Cameron Else by TKO at 0:44 of Round Two
Dusko Todorovic def Dequan Townsend by TKO at 3:15 of Round Two
Carlos Condit def. Court McGee by unanimous decision (30-27, 30-27, 30-27)
Josh Culibao vs. Charles Jourdain — split draw (28-28)
Nassourdine Imavov def. Jordan Williams by unanimous decision (29-27, 29-27, 29-28)
Loma Lookboonmee def. Jinh Yu Frey by unanimous decision (30-27, 30-27, 29-28)
Casey Kenney def. Heili Alateng by unanimous decision (30-25, 30-26, 30-27)
Luigi Vendramini def. Jessin Ayari by TKO at 1:12 of Round One