Holly Holm willing to fight Cris Cyborg at 140 pounds

The narrative going around is that Holly Holm turned down a fight with Cris Cyborg at UFC 198. While that statement is accurate in a vacuum, it doesn’t tell the whole story.

It’s not that Holm doesn’t want to fight Cyborg, she told Dave Ross of 120 Sports on Wednesday. It was just that the timing was not right.

When Holm was offered the fight with Cyborg, she was still yearning for a rematch with Miesha Tate for the UFC women’s bantamweight title. Tate beat Holm by fifth-round submission at UFC 196 in March. Holm turned down the bout with Cyborg, hoping to get a chance to avenge the loss to Tate.

“I was just kind of holding on to see if I could get the rematch for the belt,” Holm said. … “I’m not against fighting Cyborg. It just didn’t seem like the right time.”

The UFC ended up booking Tate against Amanda Nunes at UFC 200 on July 9 in Las Vegas. And Cyborg fought and …

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