Holly Holm vs Milana Dudieva In The Works For UFC 181 In VegasFormer pound-for-pound boxing queen Holly “The Preacher’s Daughter” Holm may make her long-awaited Octagon debut on December 6th at UFC 181: “Hendricks vs Lawler 2” in Las Vegas, Nevada. Holm is in talks to face Russian standout Milana Dudieva in a bantamweight bout on the card.

MMAFighting.com first reported on plans for the potential matchup earlier this week. Holm remains undefeated in her mixed martial arts career and she signed with the UFC this year after capturing the Legacy FC women’s bantamweight title. Dudieva made a successful UFC debut in August.

Holm (7-0-0) is widely regarded as one of the best female strikers in the world and she has showcased her elite standup skills in each of her MMA bouts to date. Utilising a variety of kicks, Holm has finished six of her seven foes including two via head kick knockouts. In April, she took on her toughest opponent thus far when she faced off against Juliana “Julie” Werner for the Legacy FC Women’s Bantamweight Championship. Holm stopped Werner in the fifth round of the title bout and she now looks to fight her way towards a shot at UFC championship gold with a victory in December.

Dudieva (11-3-0) was initially expected to debut for the UFC in mid-2013, but untimely losses against Jéssica “Bate Estaca” Andrade and Pannie “Banzai” Kianzad delayed the Russian fighter’s journey to the Octagon. After rallying back with a pair of submission wins early this year, Dudieva at last received a contract with the UFC. She made the most of the opportunity by edging out a close Split Decision victory over Elizabeth Phillips at UFC Fight Night 48 in August. A win over the highly-regarded Holm would vault Dudieva up the 135-pound women’s rankings.

UFC 181: “Hendricks vs Lawler 2” takes place on December 6th at the Mandalay Bay Events Center in Las Vegas, Nevada. The event is headlined by a UFC Welterweight Championship rematch between Johny “Bigg Rigg” Hendricks and “Ruthless” Robbie Lawler.

 

  1. Not a good match, IMO…what the f*#k were you thinking Sean Shelby. Holly has fought journeywomen her entire MMA career!! Holly will destroy this girl!! She is not getting any younger….give her Corriea or Andrade or Tate!!

  2. When did dudieva become a journeyman & have you took a look a holms record. Not one of those broads is even close to dudiva level. Holms hasn’t fought anybody with even a little bit of grappling. She may destroy dudiva but this is basically a step up in competition sadly. The crazy thing is this would’ve been a very good match up a few months ago but I guess dudiva didn’t look good in her ufc debut so now it’s a horrible mismatch. I guess your only good as your last match.

  3. It looks like the UFC wanted to give Holly a winnable first match and let her get the “UFC jitters” out of the way. And Dudieva has a good record and a win already in the UFC. I just believe the UFC has a lot riding on Holly Holm and they don’t want to risk too much with her early on.

    I think it’s important to remember exactly when the UFC finally signed Holly – after extended negotiations that went nowhere, the UFC finally signed Holly in the immediate wake of Rousey’s demolition of Alexis Davis. At that point it really looked like there was no real competition anymore for Rousey, so they very quickly looked to Holm as a possible decent, sellable challenger to Rousey. Of course they also got desperate and began trying to sell a Rousey – Carano fight, which realistically was not a viable matchup, and frankly never will be.

  4. I would have liked to see Holm challenged for once…I really think she has the tools to keep away from Rousey’s clinch and keep it standing. And the kicks…whew!!! Those kicks if hers remind me of Aldo. I just don’t see how fighting Dudieva gets her any closer to Rousey. But then again…when did that ever matter to Dana White. It is not about climbing up the ranks in the UFC. It is all about matches that put people in seats. Do you guys think that Dana is leary of making a fight with Holly and a ‘contender’ like Tate or McMann for fear of her losing???

  5. BTW…why are we the only three guys who give a shit about WMMA?
    I don’t care…I love the discourse, guys!! I love this side of the sport!

  6. Holm ain’t ready for rousey let alone mcmann or Davis, this is a good progressional fight 33 ain’t that old. If she looks like everybody expect her to than put her against somebody like Davis or nunes to see what she really is made of. Holm said herself she wants to take it slow.