Former UFC Women?s Bantamweight Champion Holly Holm is challenging UFC Women?s Featherweight Champion Cristiane ?Cyborg? Justino for the gold in the main event of UFC 219.
Coach Mike Winklejohn has been alongside Holm for the majority of her combat sports career and he predicts that the fighter shocks the world again by beating Cyborg.
?You know what, behind the scenes when we fought Ronda we were pretty confident that we had the proper game plan to beat Ronda,? said Winkeljohn on Submission Radio. ?Everybody thought we were crazy. Everyone thought Holly was crazy when she first fought Christy Martin back in the early days in boxing because Christy Martin knocked everyone out, and Holly made that look easy. And she had what I call that ?Christy Martin moment? where Christy tried to throw a punch at her, Holly slipped under and then Christy almost went through the ropes. Guess what? Ronda did the same thing, and it?s gonna happen in the Cris Cyborg fight, she?s gonna have that same moment.?
Holm first shocked the MMA world back in November of 2015 at UFC 193 after knocking out the previously undefeated Ronda Rousey to win the UFC Women?s Bantamweight Title.
If Holm were to shock the world against, it would come late in the fight according to the longtime coach.
?Oh, Holly?s stopping Cris Cyborg probably later in the fight. You know, round four, round five she?s gonna finish the fight, shock the world again,? says Winklejohn.
UFC 219 takes place on Saturday, December 30 from the T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas, Nevada with Cyborg and Holly Holm headlining. Fightful is providing live coverage of the event, with a post-show podcast to follow.