Holm and home
Holly Holm says her fans in NM continue to motivate her
LAS VEGAS, Nev. — Holly Holm won’t be alone on Saturday night.
As if the pressure of fighting in the comain event of UFC 246 in T-Mobile Arena in a rematch against Raquel Pennington with hopes of earning yet another world title shot isn’t enough, Albuquerque’s own queen of combat sports will once again carry with her to the octagon the passion of an entire state of fight fans.
And while she has never hidden the emotional toll it can take trying to please so many fans and supporters, not to mention the fight team that has been around her for two decades, she just doesn’t know any other way.
New Mexico fight fans, after all, are worth fighting for, Holm said.
“I think that New Mexico is a very — we’re a very passionate state,” Holm told the Journal in an interview Thursday from Las Vegas, Nev., where she fights Saturday night. “A lot of these bigger cities, going to NFL games and things like that can be very corporate. I feel like New Mexico is more passionate about their local athletes. We’re a little wild, too. That’s just the facts, as well, but I really feel like they genuinely want you to win . ... A lot of cities don’t have that. A lot of people don’t have that type of following. So, it’s a little more personal and I want to take that win home for them.”
Yes, it can be an undue stress other fight
ers don’t carry to the octagon on fight night, but Holm says fighting for more than herself can be a good thing.
“I try to use it for good motivation,” Holm said. “Sometimes it can put pressure on you in a lot of ways, but I just know that I wouldn’t be able to do my job if I didn’t have fans and I wouldn’t be able to keep progressing if I didn’t have my team and I even just the support from my friends who give that balance outside of it. There’s a lot that goes into one fight and I’m just always thankful for it.”
Holm (12-5) is now recovered from a torn hamstring injury that postponed for a few months the rematch with Pennington (10-7) of their 2015 women’s bantamweight (135 pounds) fight in which Holm won by split decision.
Longtime coach Mike Winkeljohn says even if he wanted to, there’s no getting Holm to stop thinking about fighting for those around her — even though it can sometimes cause a stress other fighters don’t put on themselves.
“I don’t think you can do that,” said Winkeljohn. “I don’t think you can diminish that. I think Holly cares about so many people and she has a gigantic heart. She goes out of her way for others. She wants to do it for them.”
So on Saturday night, Holm isn’t just fighting Pennington. She’s fighting off the fear of letting down those who got the 36-year-old multi-time world combat sport champion to the height of the sport. She says she owes a lot to Albuquerque for showing up to her boxing matches through the years and helping her make a career of chasing her fight dreams.
And more intimately, winning on Saturday night for those even closer to her — her family and fight team, many of whom like Winkeljohn and manager Lenny Fresquez have been by her side for two decades — offers Holm a special kind of motivation.
“Nobody from the outside really knows what you go through with your team to get to a fight, and each fight is its own journey,” Holm said. “The amount of passion shared and the amount of respect that’s shared between people is something you can’t replicate in anything else in life. So there’s a closeness. How can you not feel like family when ... you’re going through something that takes every ounce of your emotion, your passion to get physically, spiritually mentally — all of that to be ready for one fight. There’s a lot of emotions. And this job wouldn’t be out there if there weren’t people who shared those passions.”