Chael Sonnen Twitter (Photo : Photo: Chael Sonnen Twitter)
Almost everyone was surprised when UFC President Dana White announced Holly Holm's name as Ronda Rousey's next opponent at UFC 193 in Melbourne, Australia.
What's even more impressive is that the UFC trusted the upcoming Rousey-Holm fight to fill the 50,000-seating capacity of Etihad Stadium.
On paper, Holly Holm may have what it takes to - at the very least - provide any semblance of challenge to the only women's bantamweight champ in the promotion's history.
Holm is 9-0 in MMA, with 6 KO finishes, has 17 world titles in boxing, and has defended her belts 18 times in three different weight classes.
However, there lies the stain amongst Holly Holm's accolades: The significance of her 17 world boxing titles.
In an interview with Submission Radio, the former two-time title contender and ESPN's resident MMA analyst Chael Sonnen spilled the beans about the pound-for-pound best female fighter on the planet's next challenger.
"Holly is gaining some fan support, and as far as the locker room goes, we can't get behind her 'cause she's not telling the truth," he said. "There is no validity that I'm willing to sign off on."
The retired UFC middleweight and lightheavyweight fighter also downplayed the substance of Holm's accomplishments in boxing.
"I can go open the door to my garage right now, invite all comers, and then put a belt around whoever wins and call it the 'world championship.'"
He went as far as comparing Holly Holm's titles to several obscure sporting events.
"And I mean that kind of stuff happens all the time." Sonnen claimed. "You see it in arm wrestling. There's a world championship for some game called 'cornholing,' which is like some Midwest version of horseshoes."
He continued, "There's world championships for thumb wrestling, and there's no validity to this stuff. There's no validity to her being a seventeen-time world champion, and I don't believe as an analyst that there's any validity to any, zero of her championships."
Harsh words coming from Sonnen, but at the end of the day, the man really has a point.
MMA - specifically the UFC - is a different beast compared to boxing.
This is a sport where Floyd Mayweather's antics can't help him get out of the cage unscathed; a sport where various elements of combat are rolled into one fighting machine.
In any way, shape, or form, Chael Sonnen isn't dismissing the sport of boxing as a whole, rather, he's trying to enlighten people about certain - borderline ridiculous - titles put on by different outlets.
Because on November 14, Holly Holm won't face an "ABC" or "XYZ" boxing titlist, she will be across the cage with an animal, a UFC Women's Bantamweight Champion in the presence of "Rowdy" Ronda Rousey.
