Holly Holm 'very humbled' by Jon Jones calling her the G.O.A.T.
With a mystique-shattering shin across Ronda Rousey's jaw at UFC 193, Holly Holm launched herself into the public consciousness while simultaneously capturing the women's bantamweight title.
Holm's violent takeover of women's MMA came as a surprise to the world at large, but it was expected by her teammates at Jackson Wink in Albuquerque, N.M., the obvious culmination of a superlative career in combat sports.
One of the biggest supporters of Holm's steady rise is former light heavyweight kingpin Jon Jones, who recently called "The Preacher's Daughter" the greatest of all time in women's combat sports. Holm, of course, appreciates Jones' kind words.
"First with Jon, his faith and confidence in me doing well is something that was instrumental in even just being successful in this fight," Holm told FOX Sports' Damon Martin. "He's been a great teammate, very supportive, had really good input (and) even advice on the fight.
"He has the same coaches that I do and he's been able to take what they taught and really perform it beautifully. He has a perfect mind for fighting so I love to pick his brain sometimes so I'm very humbled and very flattered by his kind words. So I really appreciate him very, very much."
With world titles and two "Ring Magazine Fighter of the Year" awards littering her crowded mantle, Holm was already one of the greatest women's boxers of all time, and now she finds herself atop the MMA mountain, having easily dispatched the greatest female combatant the sport had ever seen.
"As far as myself what I'm proud for is that I do feel like I've accomplished a lot," Holm said. "I never feel finished, but I do feel like I accomplished something. I feel like I'm pretty prideful about the fact that I'm the only one that's been able to get world titles in both and boxing and MMA at the elite level with the top-ranked fighters.
"That's something with belt or no belt, I just love that. I can take that with me through life and know that I really challenged myself. I didn't stay where I was comfortable. I put myself out there."