UFC women's bantamweight champion Ronda Rousey was originally scheduled to fight Miesha Tate. However, it was announced last week on "Good Morning America" that Tate was switched out and Rousey will now be facing off against contender Holly Holm. The championship match is scheduled for Jan. 2, 2016.
"January 2 I'll be fighting Holly Holm, who's the most decorated striker we have in all of mixed martial arts. Not the women's division, not the bantamweight division. Holm's a 19-time boxing champion. Holly Holm was The Ring magazine pound-for-pound Fighter of the Year, and definitely my biggest challenge to date," Rousey stated.
Rousey later shared via Twitter an early preview poster for the fight.
On the other hand, Holm explained to Fox Sports that she doesn't have an exact explanation as to why Tate was taken out, but she did have a few guesses as to what really happened behind the scenes and that none of those reasons actually matter to her.
"Maybe it is one of those things where they just want to test me out [and] kind of throw me out there," she explained. "Maybe it is because they really feel I'm ready. I don't really care too much of the why. I just want to make the best of the situation."
Holm started out as a professional boxer back in 2002 and retired in 2013 with a 33-2-3 record. She debuted in the MMA fighting scene back in 2011 and won the Legacy FC Women's Bantamweight Championship in 2014, and officially signed for the UFC in July last year. She has won both of her UFC fights since her debut via decision.
In contrast, Rousey started as a Judo practitioner and eventually won the bronze medal for Judo women's division during the 2008 Olympic Games. She debuted into MMA in 2010 and eventually became the very first female fighter in the UFC by 2012. She became the first women's bantamweight champion for the UFC, a title she has not yet lost to date.
