Holly Holm’s Trainer Mike Winkeljohn: The UFC Is Where We Want To Be, But The WSOF Offered Us More Money

Surging undefeated women’s MMA bantamweight Holly Holm has long been rumored to make her way to the UFC for an awaited showdown with dominant champion Ronda Rousey.

There’s no doubt that a bout featuring “Rowdy” and 18-time women’s boxing world champion Holm is near the top of a short list of potentially blockbuster fights the UFC wants to book.

But, there are several roadblocks in the way of making that happen. First, Holm recently broke her arm winning the Legacy FC women’s bantamweight championship over Juliana Werner on April 4, and her official return is currently unknown.

Second, well, there’s the issue of her manager Lenny Fresquez, who famously met up with UFC President Dana White to discuss business. After the meeting, the notoriously standoffish White was quick to say he was “no longer interested” in Holm because of the way her manager negotiated.

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It’s an odd scenario that continues to unfold at a snail’s pace, and a lot of that may be due to the UFC’s unwillingness to pay “The Preacher’s Daughter” what her team feels she is truly worth.

Holm’s trainer, famed striking coach Mike Winkeljohn, recently spoke up to Submission Radio to detail the drawn-out back-and-forth, noting that upstart promotion World Series of Fighting (WSOF) actually offered her more money than the UFC did:

“There’s amazing ways to make money out there and being in the UFC is probably the best avenue to make money off sponsors and different things she can do, she’s very talented at things. The UFC is where we wanna be and the numbers have come up behind the scenes, there’s no doubt about it.

We’re trying to work something out right now and I definitely see Holly signing with the UFC. World Series of Fighting has offered her more money. A lot of people have started to offer her more money, that I’ll let her manager talk about. All the numbers have, basically a little bidding war has begun and we’re quite excited about it, but we want the UFC.”

It’s no surprise that Winkeljohn and Holm want to be in the UFC.

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However, the issue of Holm getting a huge payday seems to be at the glaring forefront of what they really care about, and that kind of stance is not likely to end well in dealing with the UFC.

With both sides refusing to back down and the finding that WSOF offered Holm more than the UFC, the saga continues.

Rousey will next defend her belt against No. 2-ranked Alexis Davis at UFC 175, but with top quality movie roles piling up for “Rowdy,” will she stay in the Octagon long enough for Holm to get her highly anticipated payday?