Dana White: Holly Holm will fight before she fights Ronda Rousey

It appears Ultimate Fighting Championship women’s bantamweight champ Holly Holm will get her wish of fighting sooner than UFC 200 in July.

As for an opponent, well, you’d figure that Miesha Tate, who has been victorious in her last four fights, would get yet another shot at the belt after she was unsuccessful twice in trying to defeat Rousey. Rousey, 28, of Venice, Calif., has largely been out of the public eye since losing the title to Holm at UFC 193 via head-kick TKO.

White previously said he may lose his promoters license if an immediately rematch between Holly Holm and Ronda Rousey was not booked but announced on the show that, “Holly Holm will fight before she fights Ronda”.

While the attention here mostly lies in the fact that Holm will defend her title for the first time against someone other than Rousey, it’s important to take note of White’s full statement.

Holly Holm’s upset win against Ronda Rousey is the reason why she’s been offered a contract extension by the UFC. And from a pure business standpoint, was it worth the risk for White and UFC CEO Lorenzo Fertitta to immediately put their biggest star back in the cage against a competitor who thoroughly dominated her?

After the bout, Rousey posted a message to her fans, saying: “I just wanted to thank everyone for the love and support”.

Dana: You’ll see @RondaRousey fight again. Rousey has already beaten Tate twice, albeit in relatively tough matches, and a third fight between those two wouldn’t command almost the public interest that Rousey-Holm 2 would. NBC announced Tuesday that she will host the January 23 edition of Saturday Night Live. In her promotional debut at UFC 184 in February this year, she defeated Raquel Pennington.