“And it’s a mutual respect I have for her. I know she worked hard to be where she is. You don’t get to this point in a career, let alone more than one career, without skills and hard work. So it’s a mutual feeling, but also, to be where we are, we both want to go in there and win. So I know her respect is there, but I know she wants to come (and beat me). And my job is to prevent that from happening.
Holm admitted that she never set a timetable for her career – “You’re never promised tomorrow, so you just have to make the most of what’s in front of you” – but she said the key to her remarkable longevity was in one of The hardest sport in the world is about staying grounded and understanding that there is always room for improvement. It was this mindset that helped her bounce back from her defeats and continue to move forward in her career.
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“To have a long and successful career, you must be able to look at what you have done, evaluate what you have done, be honest with yourself, learn from it, improve and to dedicate time to it,” she explained. .
“If you can’t deal with it, you’ll never recover or get better. So I just like to face it head on. Sometimes being honest with yourself is the most frustrating part. But if you can do it, you will get better, you will be stronger, and you will move forward.
“Coming into MMA, I didn’t think I was going to fight for this many years, or this many fights, or anything like that. It was just one fight at a time. And I’m still passionate about it. I know we’re nearing the end – I’m not going to fight forever – but I’m still capable of fighting with the best. And I want to do it as long as I’m passionate about it.