Dana White: Holly Holm 'went out like a gangster' against Miesha Tate

UFC president Dana White might not have been happy that Holly Holm chose to fight Miesha Tate, rather than wait on a big-money rematch with Ronda Rousey.

But that didn't stop White from admiring the way Holm went out at UFC 196.

Holm fought Tate's fifth-round choke for all it was worth at the MGM Grand in Las Vegas and ultimately went unconscious rather than tap away her UFC women's bantamweight title.

And that had White gushing about Holm's valor on ESPN radio's Los Angeles affiliate on Friday.

"She went out like a gangster," White said on the Max and Marcellus show. "She get choked, she held on, she tried to fight the choke."

White also went on to note that Holm exhibited textbook defense in trying to get out of Tate's title winning submission hold, but was undone by Tate's tenacity.

"Holly Holm technically did everything right to fight the choke," White said. "She went up against the fence so Miehsa couldn't get her other hook in. Then Miesha held on to that choke so tight, she knew she was getting choked, so she got off the fence and tried to dump her on her head, and Miesha still didn't let go. Those two women both, the way Miesha took that drop on the head, and the way Holly didn't tap, gangsters."

It wasn't all that long ago that the women's bantamweight division seemed on the verge of stagnance, with then-champion Rousey mowing down contenders left and right. Just four months after Rousey lost to Holm, though, a whole lot has changed.

"Listen, that women's division is getting solid, man. There's others, Cat Zingano is still out there, Julianna Pena is still out there, Amanda [Nunes], I mean, there's just so many tough girls in that division right now, and, as a sport it continues to grow. The 115-pound division with women is [also] getting nasty. Nasty, nasty division."