Holm’s dad: Ronda Rousey was ‘scared to death’ before UFC 193

Bloody Elbow 2.0 | Anton Tabuena

Holly Holm stunned the world on Saturday night with her phenomenal second round knockout win against former champion and UFC superstar Ronda Rousey.

Following her win, Submission Radio spent some time with the ‘Preacher’s Daughter’s’ father, Roger, to discuss the fallout.

“That was Ronda scared to death,” Roger Holm told Submission Radio. “She knew something like this was down the pipe. Ronda was trying to get her confidence back. Holly exposed Ronda, just in the realness of a fighter. And I think that that was tip, like – Holly started winning fans over here just because they know she’s just a down, good to earth person. And maybe that was Ronda’s way of trying to paint Holly in a light that gave her confidence, but it didn’t work.”

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About the author

Karim Zidan

Karim Zidan is a investigative reporter and feature writer focusing on the intersection of sports and politics. He has written for BloodyElbow since 2014 and has served as an associate editor since 2016. He also writes for The New York Times and The Guardian. Karim has been invited to speak about his work at numerous universities, including Princeton, and was a panelist at the South by Southwest (SXSW) film festival and the Oslo Freedom Forum. He also participated in the United Nations counter-terrorism conference in 2021. His reporting on Ramzan Kadyrov’s involvement in MMA, much of which was done for Bloody Elbow, has led to numerous award nominations, and was the basis of an award-winning HBO Real Sports documentary.