UFC women's bantamweight champion Holly Holm expressed great concern and sympathy for Ronda Rousey after the former champion's appearance on The Ellen Show.
The 34-year-old handed Rousey her first defeat in the UFC last November with a devastating head-kick knockout and Rousey admitted that it was one of the lowest points in her life, to the extent that she briefly contemplated suicide.
Speaking at a press conference ahead of UFC 196 where she will defend her title against Meisha Tate, Holm expressed sympathy for her peer.
“There’s a lot of things around that. When I heard that she said that, for me it’s one of those things that’s like: How do I respond to that?” Holm said at a press conference.
“I don’t want to say I’m sorry because I think on a competitive level for me, if somebody was to say they’re sorry after [beating me], it’s like: No, I’m a competitor, I’m not a charity case.
“I feel like that’s something where the best thing is for me not to say anything at all. I don’t want to say that I’m glad that she felt that way and I don’t want to say: Oh I’m so sorry. It’s something I think that you have to dig through on your own. In the long run, she’ll be stronger mentally from it.”
Holm continued: “I hurt for her that she feels that way because that’s a very low place. I did have a lot of help around me to where I did not feel that way,” Holm said, referring to her last defeat against Anne Sophie Mattis, during her boxing career.
“People would say: Oh it’s not the end of the world. I was like: Well that’s exactly what it feels like, the end of the world.
"When you put your heart and soul into something and it gets shut down devastatingly, it’s terrible. It’s a horrible feeling.”
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