Bethe Correia blasts “overrated” Holly Holm, suspects she will retire early

This coming weekend, in the main event of the UFC’s upcoming trip to Singapore, former women’s bantamweight champion Holly Holm will collide with former title challenger Bethe Correia.

In advance of this fight, Correia has made no secret of her opinions on Holm. Her latest criticisms of Holm occurred in a Monday interview with Daily Star, during which she called the former champ “overrated,” among other things.

“I think she’s been a bit overrated, and that’s too risky for an athlete’s career because they put you in fights you shouldn’t take,” Correia said, suggesting that Holm’s reputation has earned her fights against opponents she can’t actually hang with. 

“It’s been the case that Holly comes out of losing a tough fight and she doesn’t take time off to recover and to analyze and see things she has to work on,” she continued. “She takes another fight and ends up risking her career. Now I think that, after I win, it will depend on how they will take care of her career.”

“If they don’t take good care of it, she might retire early. It depends on her head and how people around her will take care of her.”

Correia then said that, while Holm claims to be in a good headspace, this might not actually be the case.

“Even though Holm says she is in great spirits, I know she is not because she comes off three losses. I know that she won’t be in her greatest spirits.”

When we last saw Correia in action, she battled Marion Reneau to a draw. Holm, meanwhile, was last seen in the cage in February when she came up short to Germaine de Randamie in the first-ever UFC women’s featherweight title fight.

Who do you think wins Singapore’s Holly Holm vs. Bethe Correia main event?

This article first appeared on BJPenn.com on 6/12/2017.