UFC president Dana White made it clear after UFC 196 that Holm made a costly mistake in not waiting to rematch Ronda Rousey in the fall.
During an interview with ESPN’s Russillo and Kanell, White blamed Holm’s longtime manager Lenny Fresquez for steering her wrong.
"The sad part about that whole thing is, and listen, he’s an old boxing guy who thinks he's smart and he isn't," White said. "The thing I feel bad about is I feel bad for Holly because I don’t know if Holly really knows what she lost. I think she has so much faith in the people that surround her she feels like, ‘Well, they’ve got me here.’ We had this meeting and Holly wasn’t even in it. Holly, that’s your life. You should be in that meeting. Don’t leave it to these people, this guy. Oh my god.
"Listen, Holly made a lot of money, she accomplished great things, she beat Ronda Rousey, but it could have been so much bigger for her. The sad part is I don’t [think she even knows.]"
On Monday, the 34-year old Holm said that White’s comments were misguided — that it was her who wanted to keep busy and fight, not Fresquez.
"All that is false," Holm said during an interview on The MMA Hour. "I’ve always said I wanted to fight and there still has been no for sure time that Ronda’s going to be back. So they said there’s all this money coming in for that fight, but what if that fight doesn’t even happen? Then what are you waiting for? Nothing."
"That was me," Holm told Ariel Helwani. "I definitely said I wanted another fight. I said I wanted to fight sooner rather than later. So, 100 percent, that was me, that was my decision. They’ve never ever made me take a fight without my blessing. Nobody in my camp has ever told me to do something one way or the other, it doesn’t matter. That’s something I said I wanted to do, I wanted to fight."
Holm, who’s worked with Fresquez since she started out as a boxer in Albuquerque, said it’s frustrating to hear him being thrown under the bus for something that was her doing.
"Yeah, [Lenny]’s been nothing but supportive for me and my career," she said. "He only looks out for my best interests, so it’s frustrating when people kind of put down the things that he’s worked so hard for. I said I wanted this fight. I did. I said I wanted it. That’s the bottom line."
LINK: Holly Holm calls Dana White’s criticism of her manager frustrating: ‘I wanted to fight, that’s the bottom line’
