Holly Holm Reveals Partial Hamstring Tear Led to Withdrawal from UFC 243 Card

Holly Holm has shed some light on the injury that led to her exit from next weekend’s UFC 243 card in Melbourne.

The former bantamweight queen posted a video on Instagram revealing that she suffered a partially torn hamstring in camp. While the injury won’t require surgery, it was severe enough to force her to withdraw from a rematch against Raquel Pennington.

“The ligament that ties my hamstring to the bone, I tore 30 percent of it this last week of training,” Holm said. “The good news is I don’t need surgery, but it just won’t be good in time to be ready to fight.”

Holm captured 135-pound gold at UFC 193 in Melbourne with a shocking second-round knockout of Ronda Rousey in November 2015. UFC 243 would have marked her first bout in the Australian city since that victory. Holm made her promotional debut against Pennington at UFC 184, winning via split decision.

“I can’t fight in Australia, [and it’s] something super heavy in my heart and I’m not proud about,” Holm said. “To go through a whole training camp and not be able to make it to the fight, not just for me. This is a training camp for Raquel Pennington, too, my opponent who I have a lot of respect for.”

Since her career-defining victory over Rousey, “The Preacher’s Daughter” has won just two of her last seven UFC bouts. Holm is coming off a first-round TKO loss to Amanda Nunes in a bantamweight title tilt at UFC 239 this past July.

View this post on Instagram

I wanted to say thank you to all of the fans who are always supporting me. I am super bummed I can’t fight next weekend. I was looking forward to seeing all of you and being able to perform there again in Melbourne. I’m staying positive and will be back to 100% soon. Just a little set back but I’ll be back before you know it .

A post shared by Holly Holm (@hollyholm) on Sep 28, 2019 at 6:16pm PDT