The biggest win of Holly Holm’s career will always be her stunning knockout upset of Ronda Rousey at UFC 193.
WARNING: The following video contains imagery the viewer may find disturbing
[embedded content]
But as to her second biggest win? That’s certainly up for debate, but she may have a new contender for that honor, albeit not one you’d expect.
Given that Holm’s knockout win over the then-undefeated Rousey happened for the bantamweight title at a major UFC pay-per-view, you’d think that a decision victory over a far lesser known Yana Santos at Saturday’s “UFC on ESPN: Vera vs. Sandhagen” event (not a PPV) would struggle to compete for such honors.
You’d think wrong because the speech Holm gave after beating Santos was easily one of the best things you’ll ever hear from an athlete.
UFC legend and ESPN pundit Michael Bisping had entered the octagon to speak to Holm about her win, and during the course of that post-fight interview, Holm took the time to shout out children — and condemn the sickos that would do them harm.
Former UFC champ Holly Holm calls for protecting children from sexualization after a big win in the octagon.@HollyHolm
— Red Voice Media (@redvoicenews) March 26, 2023
Do you agree with Holly Holm?
Yes: 100% (483 Votes)
No: 0% (1 Votes)
“Something that’s been on my heart, and I feel like I have the platform to say it, I need to say it,” Holm began. “I just feel it’s really sad, all the sexualization of our children right now. We need to protect them, however that may be. Protect the children. Please.
“Do anything we can for them.”
Holm elaborated on those comments at the post-fight media scrum.
Holly Holm explains why she used the platform of her #UFCSanAntonio post-fight interview to speak out about the sexualization of children.#UFCSanAntonio | Full video: https://t.co/f3wyzrR4if pic.twitter.com/98tnbG96TL
— MMA Junkie (@MMAJunkie) March 26, 2023
“You know there’s a lot of things, I don’t ever want to be. I’m not even a real political person,” Holm began. “I don’t like to put that stuff around any of my social media. But there’s also just right and wrong. I feel like everybody should be on the same side on that.”
Indeed, when it comes to the sexualization of children, Holms claimed that this should be a wholly apolitical, bipartisan issue.
“I don’t feel like that has anything to do with left side, right side or anything like that. I feel like everybody should be wanting to protect their children,” she said.
But is it that bipartisan? Last checked, only one side appears to find anything redeemable about “drag queen storytime.”
Indeed, Holm seemed to allude to the fact that not everyone is opposed to this nightmarish stuff when she addressed the somber notion that child sexualization is “being more accepted.”
“There’s a lot of child trafficking and I mean that’s like the extreme part, but there’s a lot of levels to it. You just see it almost being more accepted and I think that that’s really sad,” Holm said, getting visibly emotional. “I just feel like we should all do what we can. I know it’s like… A lot of people don’t know what to do. But at least if I can have a voice on it then that’s something I can speak out on. And it’s just to get everybody together to protect children.
“Childhood… It really affects people in their long-term life too. I have friends that are adults and their biggest thing that kinda is a shadow, kind of that dark space for them, is being sexualized when they were young. And I just feel like it’s almost being accepted.”
Holm, whose fighting nickname is actually “The Preacher’s Daughter” because she was, is spitting facts here.
This shouldn’t be a divisive, controversial, or even nuanced debate here.
Child sexualization is bad. Period.
If you think there’s any room for debate there at all, there’s a preacher’s daughter who would like a word with you and could probably set you straight with a kick to the head.
