By Tom Donelson / Member Boxing Writers Association of America (BWAA)

Holly Holm is the only fighter who has won championships as a boxer and a championship as a Mixed Martial Artist. Her most recent defeat at the hands of Kayla Harrison at the age of 42 showed maybe a fighter who no longer is the great fighter of the past.  Mother time always wins as she lost her recent bout but yet Holm has managed to put together a hall of fame career as a combat fighter.

Holly Holm is the daughter of a pastor and had the nickname, the Preacher Daughter, and her first fight was a knockout win in Albuquerque, New Mexico in 2002, the beginning of a combat sport career that extended 22 years to her recent MMA fight, but also includes boxing and kick boxing.

Holm career began in aerobics class at the age of 16 including cardio-kickboxing and her instructor saw talent and began instructing her.  She did amateur kicking boxing before going into a professional boxing career.

As a boxer she was regarded as one of the best female boxers in the welterweight division and won the female boxer of the year in 2005 and 2006 and was a three-time title holder between 140 to 154 pounds.  She won the undisputed super welterweight champion by defeating Mary Jo Sanders in June of 2008. 

Her first title was defeating Terri Blair for the inaugural WIBA junior welterweight in 2004, and from there, she was a regular mixture on the championship fighting.   Her biggest challenge was Anne Sophie Mathis who stopped her in the seventh round for the junior Middleweight division, but she won the rematch by a decision. She had two more championship victories before moving to the MMA.  

She won her first nine MMA fights before facing Ronda Rousey, who was then the queen of the MMA. Rousey had dominated the opponents as no one managed to get out of the first round, but Holm shocked the MMA world and defeated Rousey with knockout. This proved to be her high-water mark as she would lose her title to Misha Tate in her next fight and from there, she would be a contender for titles but never quite get over the top for another title.

However, she proved to be competitive in the UFC, but she won her only title at the age of 34, but her competitive spirit kept her going.  Holm style involved lateral movement, adopted from her boxing days while working jabs.  She waited to counterattack with strikes and combination punches.  Her footwork was her advantage and employed a variety of kicking techniques, hitting the body before striking with high kicks. As a boxer, she was a slick boxer with the majority of her decisions by decision and only nine knockouts.

Now the future is clouded as UFC head Dana White observed that maybe the 42-year-old Holm should consider retirement and certainly she has reached that point of her career where age is eroding those skills. 

Holms has had a great career and is in International boxing hall of fame and her boxing record was 33 wins 2 losses and three draws.  Her MMA record was 15 wins, 7 losses and one no-contest.   And she also did kickboxing as well.

Holly Holm will go down as one of great female boxers and in her second career as MMA fighter, she was a champion and afterward a consistent contender for another title.  Her victory over Rousey had over 1 million viewers PPV.   No fighter has done what she has done, winning titles in both professional boxing and UFC MMA.  She is the ultimate combat warrior, a champion in a multiples of combat sport.