Holly Holm shares defiant message in response to Dana White suggesting she should retire after loss to Kayla Harrison at UFC 300

Holly Holm has no plans to retire following her defeat at UFC 300.

The former bantamweight champion suffered a dominant submission loss against promotional newcomer Kayla Harrison at the T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas on Saturday night.

During his post-fight press conference, Dana White suggested that it’s time for Holm to walk away from her Hall of Fame fight career after losing to a potentially ‘jittery’ opponent.

“I don’t care what level Kayla Harrison has competed at, I guarantee you she had some serious jitters tonight,” the UFC CEO said.

“She came in there and she literally put it to an absolute legend in all of combat sports. Obviously, a big night for her and a big win.

“I would love to see Holly retire.”

On Sunday, the 42-year-old reflected on a bad night at the office and sent a defiant message to anyone suggesting she should quit MMA following her latest loss.

“Well, none of that went how I had envisioned over the last ten weeks of this training camp,” Holm said in a video shared to her Instagram page.

“I have no excuses. I had all the best coaching, the best teammates, the best sparring, all the help I could have even dreamed of asking for.

“I went out there and I lost all focus on the game plan. I did nothing that we trained for in this fight. All the respect to Kayla, she was the better fighter tonight.”

4

4

“I just know I’m capable of more than that. I’m one of those that likes to self-reflect rather than run from things. I think honesty with yourself can sometimes be the hardest thing.

“I’m healthy. My heart hurts, my ego hurts. But I just wanted to say thank you to all the fans that have always stood by my side and of course, my team, my coaches, my family, my friends.

“Much love to everybody, I appreciate you. I’ll be back.”

Before transitioning to MMA in 2011, Holm was a three-weight world champion in boxing, who made 18 title defences across a 38-fight career in the sport.

4

‘The Preacher’s Daughter’ made the sport look easy when she quickly amassed a 9-0 record before being booked to face UFC superstar Ronda Rousey.

Holm was a massive underdog but shockingly became the first person to beat ‘Rowdy’ when she knocked her out inside two rounds in November 2015.

Since then, Holm has lost seven of her last 13 fights but she is still a top contender, who clearly feels like there’s plenty more to achieve in the sport.

UFC fans can expect to see her back in the Octagon later this year.