Holly Holm signs UFC deal, may fight against Ronda Rousey

By Staff Writer | Jul 11, 2014 02:54 PM EDT

Did Dana White recruit a potential contender for Ultimate Fighting Championship Women's Bantamweight leader Ronda Rousey for her next fight? On Thursday, the Los Angeles Times said the UFC president has shared via Twitter an image of a signed contract and a photo of Holly Holm, an unbeaten former professional kickboxer and boxer.

The news came followed Rousey's 16-second victory against Canadian challenger Alexis David during the much-buzzed "UFC 175: Weidman vs. Machida" in Las Vegas on Saturday night.

Rousey has been quoted as saying that she was interested in fighting Holm, and it was clear from the latter's statistics on why she is the current UFC champ's potential target. Holm, who stands at 5-foot-8, has six knockouts and one victory by decision during her mixed martial arts career. Rousey's latest fights also indicate that the Venice-based fighter is getting bored. Aside from her stunning victory against Davis on Saturday in a technical knockout, she had also beaten contender Sara Mcmann in 66 seconds back in February.

What was surprising during the match was Rousey's comments to commentator Joe Rogan about fighting again in less then 24 hours' notice. White has since expressed his anger at the company's in-hose production team for feeding the question to Rogan and putting Rousey in the hot seat, MMA Fighting said, especially with the fact that the women's champ has since said that she is scheduled for a much-needed knee surgery.

"I wasn't upset with Joe Rogan. I was upset with the truck telling him to tell Ronda that she's going to fight again. That wasn't true. That was some s--t that somebody made up back there. It was the biggest idiotic move in the history of our production team," White said at the post-fight press conference.

On the other hand, it would be perfect if Rousey does proceed with her surgery and recuperate before returning to the octagon again. The LA Times said Holm might do a late debut in the UFC as she has recently suffered a broken arm during a match in April.

More Sections