Holly Holm explains why she receives “plenty of title fights”

Former UFC champion Holly Holm has explained why she believes she receives fairly regular title shots with the promotion.

Holm captured the UFC Bantamweight Championship back in November 2015 when she beat Ronda Rousey, but since then, she’s gone 3-5 in the UFC across her last eight fights. Despite that, she’s still fought for either the featherweight or bantamweight title three times since dropping the belt to Miesha Tate — losing all three.

Now, after her recent win over Raquel Pennington in January, Holm told MMA Junkie why she believes she continues to receive opportunities at the belt.

“I’ve fallen short of getting that title back more than once, and it’s frustrating, but I know I keep fighting the very top-ranked girls, so I’m constantly right there,” Holm said. “I’m still aching for it. I still want it. That’s a lot to say. Some people say, ‘Oh, I want the belt’ then they don’t really think about it. I know exactly how much work that takes to get there, and I know it took a big commitment.

“You’ve got to win fights along the way and when it comes, I can’t let the opportunity slip through my fingers again. Obviously it’s right there. I know people say, ‘Oh, she’s had plenty of title fights.’ There’s a reason: Because I keep fighting the best, and I keep staying right there. A lot of times I’m just one fight away. No matter what, I have Irene Aldana in front of me.”

Recently, her coach Mike Winkeljohn has said that he believes Holm is, once again, just one fight away from another title shot.

“In my heart, I believe Holly is one fight away from a title shot. Man, she made a big mistake against Nunes. Everyone that fights Nunes has fallen in that trap,” Winkeljohn said to BJPENN.com. “I’ve been amazed as to what Amanda can do. But, I think she got exposed with GDR [Germaine De Randamie] and one more win and Holly gets that shot.”

Winkeljohn also noted a few other names that she could be interested in fighting in the future.

“She would definitely like to get the GDR fight back. She might prefer that one but she just wants to get the title back,” he said. “Aspen Ladd said Holly stepped out of the fight but it was the UFC that canceled it so she could fight Nunes. Holly is not happy with her attitude so Holly would love to fight Aspen. Either one of those makes sense.”