Holly Holm admits 'ego hurts' after UFC 300 loss to Kayla Harrison; Dana White calls for retirement

Holly Holm is frustrated with her lack of execution against Kayla Harrison at UFC 300.

Former UFC champ Holm (15-7 MMA, 8-7 UFC) was on the wrong end of a one-sided fight and submission loss against Harrison (17-1 MMA, 1-0 UFC) on Saturday at T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas. She landed just eight significant strikes in nearly seven minutes of cage time.

Holm issued a statement in the aftermath of the result. She was humble and gracious in defeat as always, and took fault in not following the “game plan” her team at JacksonWink MMA put together for Harrison.

“Well, none of that went how I had envisioned over the last 10 weeks of this training camp,” Holm said on Instagram. “I have no excuses. I have all the best coaching, best teammates, best sparring – all the help that I could have even dreamed of asking for. I went out there and lost all focus on the game plan. I did nothing that we trained for in this fight. And all the respect to Kayla. She was the better fighter tonight.

“I just know I’m capable of more than that. I’m one of those that likes to self-reflect rather than run from things. I think that honesty with yourself can be sometimes the hardest thing. But I’m healthy. My heart hurts. My ego hurts. But I just wanted to say thank you to all the fans that stood by my side and, of course, my team. My coaches. My family and my friends. I appreciate you and I’ll be back.”

Holm, 42, is the oldest active female fighter on the UFC roster. She has just one victory in her past four fights, leaving questions about what her future holds in the women’s bantamweight division.

Although Holm vowed to return, UFC CEO Dana White offered different thoughts at the UFC 300 post-fight press conference, urging “The Preacher’s Daughter” to retire from MMA competition.

“I would love to see Holly retire,” White told MMA Junkie and other reporters.

For more on the card, visit MMA Junkie’s event hub for UFC 300.