Miesha Tate achieved a career dream when she defeated Holly Holm at UFC 196 to become UFC women’s bantamweight champion for the first time in her career. Now, she’s giving major props to her former foe.
During an episode of MMA Tonight with host Ryan McKinnell on Sirius XM, Tate was asked about Holly Holm being on the ballot for the 2020 Boxing Hall Of Fame class, and while Laila Ali headlines the strong class which includes 12 female boxers, Tate believes Holm should definitely be inducted.
When asked about her thoughts on Holm and her place in the Boxing Hall Of Fame, Miesha Tate gave her former opponent a ton of respect and credit.
https://twitter.com/SiriusXMBoxing/status/1179837425545306113
“You know people are like ‘oh does she deserve this?’ Yeah I think she does,” Tate said of Holm. “I think it all translates to the sport what she’s done, contact sport, with what she’s done for boxing and the recognition she’s put on boxing, coming from a boxing background. She’s just a great fighter, a great person, a great representative of this sport in its entirety. I mean, I’m glad Holly is in there and I think she’s definitely a great candidate. If she doesn’t win this year, I think in the upcoming year, she’s definitely going to be in the Boxing Hall Of Fame, without question.”
That is plenty of respect and admiration from Holm’s former opponent who has seen her fair share of success in the MMA world, but has now retired and moved into broadcasting duties with Sirius XM, and become a Vice President for ONE Championship.
While unfortunate news struck Holly Holm and she had to withdraw from her scheduled fight at UFC 243 against Raquel Pennington, she said the fight is being rescheduled as she recovers from a hamstring injury.
Before coming over to the MMA world, Holm compiled a 33-2-3 record in her boxing career, including nine knockouts. Holly Holm collected 16 title defenses across three different weight classes during her boxing career, where she held multiple titles with the IFBA, WIBA, WBC, WBAN, and WBF to name a few.
After making the switch to MMA, Holm made her UFC debut against Raquel Pennington at UFC 184, and would later go on to shock the world at UFC 193 when she defeated then undefeated champion, Ronda Rousey. This win made Holm the UFC women’s bantamweight champion. In her first title defense, Holm would lose the title to Miesha Tate by fifth-round submission at UFC 196.
Would you like to see Holly Holm in the Boxing Hall Of Fame?
This article first appeared on BJPENN.COM on 10/4/2019.