Holly Holm Issues Statement On UFC 243 Withdrawal

Former UFC Women’s Bantamweight Champion Holly Holm and Raquel Pennington were expected to clash for a second time this Saturday Night at UFC 243, but Holm suffered a ligament injury and the bout was called off.

Holm has since posted a video on Instagram explaining what led to her fight withdrawal:

 

 

 

 

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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

Here is transcript of what was said by Holm in the video, provided by MMA Junkie:

“The ligament that ties my hamstring to the bone, I tore 30 percent of it this last week of training. The good news is I don’t need surgery, but it just won’t be good in time to be ready to fight. I can’t fight in Australia, (and it’s) something super heavy in my heart and I’m not proud about. 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.”

UFC 243 takes place on Saturday, October 5 from the Marvel Stadium in Melbourne, Australia with Robert Whittaker and Israel Adesanya headlining. Fightful is providing live coverage of the event, with a post-show podcast to follow.