Holm wants Nunes at 135, not 145

Get the Full StoryThe former UFC women s bantamweight champion would prefer a fight against current double champion Amanda Nunes to take place at 135 pounds, not 145. Holly Holm has competed at both women s bantamweight and featherweight, but she would rather try to re-capture the 135-pound title instead of getting a second belt.

Both divisions are currently reigned over by double champion Amanda Nunes, who knocked out Cris Cyborg last month for the featherweight strap. Holm, the former UFC women s bantamweight champion who was the first to knock out Ronda Rousey, told MMA Fighting she wants to fight Nunes in the lighter weight class.

I think that bantamweight is probably where we would fight, I think that would be the case, Holm said. Who knows really how the future goes, but I definitely think that bantamweight is what we would fight at.

Holm is currently booked to fight rising contender Aspen Ladd at UFC 235 in March in a bantamweight bout. It is the Jackson-Wink MMA fighter s first trip to the division since June 2017; since then, she has gone 1-1 at featherweight, losing to Cyborg in a title fight and besting Megan Anderson last year.

Holm said she isn t against future featherweight fights, but that the preference would be for a potential Nunes fight to take place at 135 pounds.

I ve been wanting to go to bantamweight for a while, but that doesn t mean that I m so focused on it that I m not open to other opportunities at 45, Holm said. I m just taking each fight as it comes. Aspen Ladd is at 135, so that s where I m going.

Perhaps lucky for Holm, Nunes said last week she plans to return to bantamweight, where she hopes to defend her title for the fourth time. The Lioness has no intention of fighting at featherweight again, which could line up a Holm title defense at bantamweight, just as The Preacher s Daughter wants.

Holm stopped Rousey in late 2015 for the women s bantamweight title, but fell to Miesha Tate just months later who then lost to Nunes later that year . She lost to then-bantamweight contender Valentina Shevchenko, and later fell to Germaine de Randamie in an inaugural women s featherweight title fight.

Should Holm get past Ladd in two months, she would be in prime position for another crack at bantamweight gold. A fight against Nunes, the third double champion in UFC history, would mark Holm s fourth title challenge, and her fifth title fight in the promotion.

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