Holly Holm Expects Kayla Harrison to Make Weight: ‘She’s a Professional’

Holly Holm has seemingly been in title contention for the majority of her Ultimate Fighting Championship career.

That could once again be the case if Holm defeats two-time Professional Fighters League champion Kayla Harrison at UFC 300 on April 13. While the 42-year-old Holm has technically lost two of her last three Octagon appearances — a loss to Mayra Bueno Silva was changed to a no contest — the women’s bantamweight division is currently wide open on the heels of Amanda Nune’s retirement this past June.

Holm has to like her chances considering that the woman who claimed the vacant strap at UFC 297, Raquel Pennington, is 0-2 against the Jackson-Wink MMA standout. After claiming the 135-pound title with her upset of Ronda Rousey at UFC 193, “The Preacher’s Daughter” is 0-4 in championship fights — two at bantamweight and two at featherweight. Still, getting back to that point is always her primary objective.

“I fought for the belt more than once and so a lot of people, they think about what the anticipation is, they want to see other people fight for the belt, but you’ve also got to put people in line that deserve to be there and there’s a reason that I have been up there, it’s because I stayed ranked in the Top 5 for a really long time,” Holm said on "The MMA Hour.” “My goal is always to get to the belt. If I’m not fighting for the belt, I don’t want to be fighting at all. If I don’t have some kind of path to the belt, I really don’t want to do it.

“I’m not just fighting for a payday, I’m not just fighting for fun, it’s with a goal in mind, so that’s always it. It really stinks when you have a loss because it takes you a step away from it rather than a step closer, so I do feel like this is a fight that can be closer to the belt, so I’m going to make it work, make it happen.”

Harrison, a two-time Olympic gold medalist with a 16-1 MMA mark, would be another signature win for Holm. Perhaps the biggest question heading in to UFC 300 is whether Harrison will be able to make the cut to bantamweight after competing at 155 pounds for the majority of her career.

Holm is expecting Harrison to be professional in her approach.

“I don’t really know what she walks around at, how much water she drops, I don’t know all those details,” Holm said. “But for me, it’s like if somebody was to tell me I’ve got to go to 125, I couldn’t make 125. So you think about that and that is a concern but I feel like she’s a professional, not just in MMA but obviously in professional sports in her judo and everything, so I give that confidence in her that she’s going to make weight.”