Shannon Sharpe put under scrutiny Holly Holm’s recent loss and one of her flaws involved Mike Tyson. Holm lost to Kayla Harrison at UFC 300. Harrison is a formidable fighter in her own right and losing to her is not embarrassing. However, several notable personalities of the sport deem that Holm had a terrible strategy, as she was seen struggling against the UFC debutant.
Recently, Shannon Sharpe and Ocho Johnson sat back and reflected on the card. In particular, they discussed Holm’s performance and felt that she should not have run so much and instead used the jabs to her advantage. To substantiate, they compared the upset of Mike Tyson against Buster Douglas to suggest that Holm should have used the jab more in the fight. Reflecting on the same the 3x Super Bowl champion, Sharpe said,
“I don’t get Holly Holm’s strategy. I don’t think anybody in the chat gets the strategy either because you know what Kayla Harris is made of… Kept that jab, kept that jab. Just kept pounding jab over and over and saw Tyson looking for his mouth peice. Yeah. Buster Douglas.”
Going one on one with a 2x Olympic gold medalist is definitely not easy. However, having won the UFC championship before, Holm was expected to put up more resistance that what she did. Such a crushing loss will definitely hamper her future chances in the sport. Moreover, the aforementioned opinion is not exclusive but also shared by the President of the UFC, Dana White himself.
Dana White wants Holly Holm to retire
Holly Holm is a veteran of the sport. However, White thinks that there is not a lot of fight left in her. In the last few years, she has not found much success in the cage. Thus, the 54-year-old asserted that it is time for her to call it a day. In the post-fight press conference, at UFC 300, White said,
“I would love to see Holly retire.”
Holm has not yet responded to this request made by White. However, following the bout, she appeared to be in great spirits, made no excuses, and was grateful to all her fans. Holm said,
“But I just wanted to say thank you to all the fans that have always stood by my side and of course, my team, my coaches, my family, my friends. Much love to everybody, I appreciate you and I’ll be back.”
What lies ahead of her, only time can reveal. But going by her recent statements, Holm definitely has no plans to retire. It is now up to Holm to get back into the grind and come back stronger, proving her critics wrong.