Holm vs. Bueno Silva
The UFC is heading back to the Apex for UFC Vegas 77 on Saturday July 15. The main event will be a women’s bantamweight fight with title implications. Former champion #3 Holly Holm will battle rising contender #10 Mayra Bueno Silva.
Holm is 3-1 in her last four fights since challenging Amanda Nunes for the title in 2019. Her only loss during that stretch was a controversial split decision to Ketlen Vieira in 2022. She is coming off a unanimous decision victory over Yana Santos in March.
Amanda Nunes vacated the title in June to focus on retirement after another successful title defense at UFC 289. Does Holm think she will be fighting for the vacant title with a win on Saturday? “I don’t see why I wouldn’t (fight for the belt), we’re No. 1, 2 and 3,” Holm said. “I’ve already had this fight scheduled before a lot of the shake up in the division, but my focus is still on Saturday night because that’s all I’m promised right now because I need to get past that. My focus needs to be present that night and see where we go from there.”
Holm became champion in 2015 with a KO victory over Ronda Rousey in one of the biggest upsets in UFC history. The 41-year-old would go on to lose the belt in her next fight to Miesha Tate at UFC 196. Rousey is widely considered the most popular women’s fighter of all-time and there have been talks of her making a return to the UFC now that the belt is vacant. Would Holm fight her again?
“You know, I don’t know if she will really come back. Who knows if it is just talk? I know she is a very competitive person, there’s a reason why she was an Olympian and a reason why she was a champion for so long,” Holly Holm said. “So, I would absolutely revisit that fight at either weight (135 or 145), I don’t think it is an advantage or disadvantage depending on the weight. I think either one. We will see if she comes back, I know she has been pretty busy with her life and whatever she wants to do, more power to her. But, if she comes back that would be great to fight again.”
The talks amongst the analysts and pundits are that former champion Julianna Pena and former title challenger Raquel Pennington will fight for the vacant title. Holm has two victories over Pennignton and has never fought Pena. However, she sits behind them in the rankings at #3 so she will likely have to wait in line. First things first, she will need to take care of business on Saturday and if she does, she could very likely fight the winner of Pena and Pennington for the title.
Bueno Silva has won three straight fights and most recently defeated Lina Lansberg by second round submission in February. She is 5-2-1 in the UFC and will be facing her toughest test on Saturday.
The Brazilian fighter does not believe in Pena vs. Pennington and thinks she should be fighting for the title with a win over Holm. "You want to watch this fight?" Bueno Silva asked a reporter. "No, no, no. Nobody wants to watch this fight. Nobody! ... I believe I need to knock out (Holm). She needs to knock out me, too. If (one of us wins) a good fight, I think (we're) next. Because nobody wants to watch Julianna Peña and Raquel Pennington, sorry."
The 31-year-old has put together a solid gameplan for the fight. “I want to hurt her,” Silva said. “I want to hurt her for four rounds and then in the fifth round, I knock out Holly.”
She continued, “I need to knock her out, and she needs to knock me out, too,” Silva said. “When someone wins a good fight, I think they’re next, because nobody wants to watch Julianna Peña vs. Raquel Pennington, sorry.”
The rest of the main card:
Middleweight - Albert Duraev vs. Park Jun-yong
Women's Featherweight - #13 Norma Dumont vs. #15 Chelsea Chandler
Lightweight - Ottman Azaitar vs. Francisco Prado
Lightweight - Terrance McKinney vs. Nazim Sadykhov
ESPN+ Prelims:
Featherweight - Tucker Lutz vs. Melsik Baghdasaryan
Women's Strawweight - Viktoriia Dudakova vs. Istela Nunes
Featherweight - Austin Lingo vs. Melquizael Costa
Welterweight - #14 Jack Della Maddalena vs. Bassil Hafez
Lightweight - Evan Elder vs. Genaro Valdez
Flyweight - Tyson Nam vs. Azat Maksum
Lightweight - Alexander Munoz vs. Carl Deaton III
Women's Bantamweight - Ashlee Evans-Smith vs. Ailín Pérez
