Holly Holm interested in reclaiming title, possible Amanda Nunes fight

If women’s bantamweight champion Amanda Nunes is searching for a high-profile challenger, she need look no further than former champion Holly Holm.

“The Preacher’s Daughter” picked up a unanimous decision win in a women’s featherweight bout against Megan Anderson at UFC 225 on Saturday in Chicago, and during her in-cage interview she was asked about possibly re-claiming the 135-pound title currently held by Nunes at some point in the future.

It didn’t take long for Nunes to share her opinion on the matchup via Twitter:

At the event’s post-fight press conference, Holm elaborated on her comments and while she’s interested in another shot at the bantamweight title, she’s not committing to going after it just yet.

“I think anything you lose, you want back,” Holm said. “Something that’s dear to you, that’s probably close to my heart, but I want it all. I don’t think that you even get in this game if you don’t want it all. I want it all. I want victories, I want belts, I want all of it.

“It’s just one step at a time. One fight at a time. Really, the only thing on my plate right now was tonight and I’m going to enjoy that.”

Holm, a former boxing champion, showed off a new facet of her game on Saturday, grounding the larger Anderson and controlling her on the mat. It was a stark contrast to the striking specialist who became an overnight sensation in the MMA world with a scintillating head kick KO of Ronda Rousey back in 2015.

In her first defense, Holm would drop the title to Miesha Tate, who would subsequently lose it to Nunes. A Holm-Nunes matchup would be a fresh marquee fight in a division that is currently in a rebuilding stage.

Holm has been bouncing between the bantamweight and featherweight divisions with mixed results. She has fallen short in two title bids at 145 pounds, and gone 1-1 in her past two fights at 135 pounds. However, now that she’s back in the win column, Holm welcomes the challenge of dethroning Nunes, a fearsome finisher who has defeated her last seven opponents.

“You know, every fighter can be beaten. That’s how I feel,” Holm said. “She’s very tough and she’s proven that. She’s ran through some girls. She was very dominant in her last performance with Raquel (Pennington), a very game fighter, she’s usually a little scrapper. It’s definitely a tough fight, but what am I here for?

“I don’t want to take the easy route and then at the end of my career think I wish I would have pushed myself a little more. So we’ll see what happens in the future. We’ll go from here.”