Holly Holm gets shot at new UFC title, chance to end skid

Former UFC women’s bantamweight champion Holly Holm finds herself in an odd situation as she prepares to fight Germaine de Randamie on Saturday in New York.

While Holm desperately needs a victory to snap her first two-fight losing streak, she will do so with a title on the line. The inaugural women’s featherweight belt will be at stake in the main event of UFC 208 at Barclays Center in Brooklyn.

“I need to treat it like it’s the last fight of my career, because who’s promised another opportunity?” Holm said. “But for me right now, just coming off two losses, I feel like I really need to prove myself.”

Holm has shown what she can do when she’s at her best. After an incredible pro boxing career, she capped a 10-fight winning streak to begin her mixed martial arts career with a stunning knockout of Ronda Rousey in Australia that changed the course of UFC history, as it showed female fighting was about more than one woman.

It was an amazing accomplishment, but Holm wants to be remembered for more than that.

“I don’t want my whole career to be defined around getting the belt from Ronda,” she said. “I want my career to be defined by me being the best fighter I can be and accomplishing the biggest things I can. So I want this for me for my career. I want them to remember everything after. I want to be able to do a lot in this career still.”

Winning a belt in a second weight class would be a nice start, but it’s been a tough road for Holm since her historic victory. She lost the belt in her first defense when she was choked out by Miesha Tate in the final round of a bout Holm was winning. She then lost a unanimous decision to top contender Valentina Shevchenko in July.

A reprieve came in late 2016 when UFC officials finally decided to create a featherweight division, mostly so star striker Cris “Cyborg” Justino would have a weight class to fight in after it became clear she would never make the bantamweight limit.

Justino, however, rejected fights against Holm and de Randamie. When Justino was subsequently flagged for a violation of the organization’s anti-doping policy, the bout between Holm and de Randamie fell into place.

The future of the division appears to be in limbo beyond Saturday. With Justino still awaiting a decision on a potential penalty and a lack of 145-pounders added to the roster, the women’s featherweight era could be short-lived.

Holm, who says she hopes to return to 135 pounds to recapture that title regardless of the new division’s future, believes there are plenty of fighters to sustain both weight classes.

“Each division has to start somewhere,” she said. “When they first started the 135-pound division, it was just a title fight with Ronda coming over, and it built from there. There’s so many girls that want the opportunity, I can guarantee you they can build this division in no time. They just have to make some phone calls, because there’s a lot of girls out there that are very tough.”

De Randamie, a world champion in Muay Thai before taking up MMA, is 3-1 in the bantamweight division, having lost to current champion Amanda Nunes. She admitted she hasn’t thought much past Saturday.

“To be honest, I haven’t heard really much about it, and right now it’s not of my concern, either,” the Dutch striker said. “Let’s fight with Holly first and see what comes after.”

Holm, an Albuquerque, New Mexico native, is similarly focused on a positive outcome.

“I just think I want to win this and whatever happens after is great,” she said. “That’s all I think. I just want to win right now. I remember (Donald Cerrone) saying one time winning a fight is like a high. It’s like a drug. And you’re always chasing that. And that’s what I want. I want that victory right now.”

It’s been awhile since Holm had a fix. She never lost consecutive bouts in a boxing career that spanned almost 40 fights and never had lost an MMA bout before dropping her past two.

“I’m in a place I’ve never been in my career, not in boxing or MMA, and I know that I’m coming in and there’s extra nerves that I have that I put on myself,” she said. “I just want to use it for good motivation.

“I don’t want another loss.”

The bout headlines a pay-per-view card that also features a middleweight bout between Derek Brunson and former champion Anderson Silva. The pay per view begins at 7 p.m., with the preliminary card airing live on Fox Sports 1 at 5.

Contact Adam Hill at ahill@reviewjournal.com or 702-277-8028. Follow @adamhilllvrj on Twitter.