The newest UFC Women's Bantamweight Champion Holly Holm shocked the world on Saturday night when she knocked out 6-time champion Ronda Rousey at the Etihad Stadium in Melbourne, Australia.
Despite being dubbed as the underdog, the 34-year-old fighter nicknamed The Preacher's Daughter took down (and hospitalized) Rousey with a left kick on her jaw. The 5'8" challenger weighing 135lbs with a 69-inch reach and 38-inch leg reach landed 29 out of her 38 significant strikes and grabbed the title just within 59 seconds of the second round.
The astonishing win placed Holm in the mix martial arts spotlight, with sports fans asking who Holly Holm really is.
Hailing from Albuquerque, New Mexico, Holm grew up in a family the local church-going community looked up to. Her father Roger -- a preacher at Edgewood Church of Christ met her mother Tammy Bredy in a Bible study group. Although her parents are divorced, Holm regularly went to Sunday Service and committed herself as a good example to other children.
Before stumbling into martial arts, Holm was active in gymnastics, soccer, swimming and diving. But it was until she went to an aerobics class when she found what she was going for.
"I started aerobics to keep in shape, saw the [kickboxing] class, thought it looked pretty cool," Holm wrote on her website. "So I thought I'd try it for one fight and see what it was like."
That's when her aerobics and kickboxing instructor Mike Winklejohn saw she was something special.
"She's got that instinct," Winklejohn said on the website. "When she gets hit, she knows it's time to come back. I wish I could bottle [what she has] and sell it."
After graduating from high school, Holm won in a national amateur kickboxing competition in Kansas City, Missouri in 2001 and made her pro-debut in 2002. She took on another level in 2011 when she started training for mix martial arts.
With almost all bets on Rousey, The Preacher's Daughter just held on to what her father has to say. "I taught my kids hope," he told Albuquerque Journal. "Always make sure you've got time for somebody's heart. That's the key to life."
