UFC Rumors: Holly Holm out of UFC 243 fight against Raquel Pennington

Holly Holm was looking to bounce back from a devastating knockout by Bantamweight and Featherweight queen Amanda Nunes by facing Raquel Pennington in a rematch from four and a half years ago.

However, she won't be able to yet as she has pulled out of UFC 243 at Melbourne, Australia, according to Ariel Helwani of ESPN. The nature of the injury is undisclosed.

A rough phase

Holly Holm hasn't had the best run in the last few years. She's 2-5 in her last seven fights and has failed to recapture the UFC Bantamweight Championship this past July against Amanda Nunes, while also unsuccessfully challenging for the UFC Featherweight Championship twice.

Nobody knows what her endgame is, but it's believed that due to her age, she doesn't have too many miles left in her career. It's doubtful as to whether she'll ever challenge for a title again, but all of that depends on a winning streak if she can string one together.

Then comes another major challenge - if Nunes is still the reigning champion of the Featherweight division then, it's going to be hard to stop her, as the Brazillian double champion has been on a tear, defeating all the greats in Women's MMA emphatically.

Many questioned why Holm was returning to action within three months of being knocked out by a brutal head kick and one has to wonder if her pulling out has anything to do with that.

Unfortunately for Holly Holm, she won't be able to return to the venue of the greatest night of her sporting career when she knocked Ronda Rousey out and shook the MMA World, sending the Bantamweight division into a frenzy in the process.

She previously faced Pennington at UFC 184, where she defeated her in her first fight for the promotion. It was a split decision victory.

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