LOS ANGELES -- The champ is here, UFC Bantamweight champion Holly Holm arrived in Los Angeles for a lunchtime meet and greet on Monday and Latin Times was able to sit down with the reigning titleholder to see how her life has changed since defeating Ronda Rousey, her thoughts on Rousey's recent suicide statements, and her March 5th fight with Miesha Tate in Las Vegas.
Holm's biggest omission over the course of the nearly one-hour interview was that she refused to be a "one-hit wonder" and maintains that despite living in the moment, she will continue to be queen of the octagon "for a long time to come."
"I don't want to be a one-hit wonder is probably the thing I've been saying about that," Holm said. "I don't want it to be this one performance. I want to show people that I'm here for a reason and for me, I want to keep going, I want to keep getting better, I want to keep learning."
Although Holm admitted she has enjoyed her budding success in the UFC since knocking out Rousey in the land down under, she maintains that she's still the small town girl from Albuquerque, New Mexico that enjoys going to the grocery store and running errands. She openly rejects offers to appear on talk shows or grace the cover of magazines (unlike her counterpart Rousey), and states that her single driving force in live is to be the best.
Holm accepted a rematch from Rousey that was put together quickly by UFC President Dana White. However, do to Rousey's busy schedule and desire to take time off from the octagon, Holm requested an early fight before the rematch with Rousey.
"There's a fight ahead of me now," she continued. "I don't even feel like I have the belt. I feel like I'm still going to prove something and to fight for it because I want to stay hungry."
Despite being the heavy favorite against Tate -- who Rousey defeated twice before -- Holm knows the challenging task in front of her is not without its difficulties. If she learned anything from being in a similar position against Rousey months ago, it's to stay hungry, anticipate the pressure, and stay determined.
"I feel like every fight has that pressure," said Holm. "My entire career if it's not somebody that you're supposed to beat, well there's pressure, because then it's almost like a no-win situation. If it's somebody that's supposed to beat you, well then you have to kind of dig deep and have your own mental game behind it. There's always pressure."
Like Rousey, Tate is a skilled and experienced fighter when it comes to her ground attack and has six career submissions to her name. Holm is a former world champion boxer, whose greatest skillset is her punching and kicking power while standing toe-to-toe. Rousey made the mistake of staying upright with Holm in their first fight, and needless to say, Tate will not make the same egregious error on March 5th.
Tate's game plan is simple: take Holm tot he ground and keep her there. Holm needs to stay on her feet to be dominant. Who will make their imprint on the fight and get their opponent to adapt to their style?
Holm believes that her strength will be her mental outlook in the fight and belives that make up will carry her past any and every obstacle she encounters in her quest to become one of the greatest Mixed Martial Arts Champions the sport has ever seen.
"I feel like to live up to the hype of the debut...I don't think I could have even don't that," Holm said longingly. "Then after that it's like, 'Well her first fight is out of the way, the Octagon jitters are out of the way so now what are we going to see."
As the conversation turned to that debut fight against Rousey, we asked Holm to comment on Rousey's recent remarks that she contemplated suicide after her loss to Holm.
“For me, I would never get that low after a loss,” Holm said. “Maybe I’m a selfish person, but I just think I want to get back and win for me. It’s frustrating. You deal with a lot of doubt in your mind and maybe I’m not as good as I thought I was. Obviously those are the questions that go through your mind, but you have to be honest with yourself and think, ‘Maybe not. Obviously you need to get better because this fighter was better than you tonight.’ I went out to the press conference that night.”
If Holm can get passed her title defense against Tate, she will encounter a more motivated and desperate Rousey in the rematch. If Rousey were to lose again, only God knows how the former Champion will respond, something the "Preacher's Daughter," does not want to think about.
“I do hope that obviously she never really entertains that. I think the best thing really, like I said, my advice is probably (not that good), I’ve never been there before mentally, but I think it’s always a good thing to surround yourself with people you trust and people that can support you and care about you.”
Nick Hamilton of Rebel Media was a contributing writer to this story.
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