Holly Holm recently became the first UFC fighter to pass 50 United States Anti-Doping Agency (USADA) drug tests. The promotion and the agency are honoring her accordingly.
https://twitter.com/ufc/status/1228052989258002432
Holly Holm opened up on this milestone and what it means to her after the fact. She says inadvertently failing a drug test is one of her biggest fears due to the impact it would have on her legacy.
“I think that is probably my biggest nightmare to have something come back like that because I spent my whole career making sure that I’m clean and making sure I work hard for it,” Holm told reporters (via KRQE.com). “That is my biggest nightmare because one thing that could happen, one picogram that doesn’t really do anything can really taint your whole legacy and have people question everything you do.”
UFC Vice President of Athlete Health and Performance Jeff Novitzky also weighed in on this milestone, praising Holm for her character.
“This shows and it’s what all of us know internally,” UFC Vice President of Athlete Health and Performance Jeff Novitzky said. “Is that Holly Holm is as much of a legend, a role model, a leader outside the Octagon as she is inside the Octagon.”
Holly Holm last fought at UFC 245, when she picked up a decision victory over Raquel Pennington. With this victory she separated herself from a stoppage loss to reigning UFC women’s bantamweight champion Amanda Nunes.
Holm held the UFC women’s bantamweight title for a short period in 2015 and 2016. She won the title with a shocking, head-kick knockout win over Ronda Rousey — one of the biggest upsets in UFC history — and lost it via submission to Miesha Tate in her next fight.
Through it all, she’s been a clean fighter.
This article first appeared on BJPENN.com on 2/14/2020.