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Holly Holm vs. Mayra Bueno Silva is the headliner fight of UFC Fight Night 224 a.k.a. UFC on ESPN+ 82, an event taking place at UFC Apex in Las Vegas, on Saturday, July 15, 2023
Holly Holm is turning 42 later this year, but she has no intention of slowing down anytime soon. “The Preacher’s Daughter” has already fought once in 2023 (and won) and on July 15, she’ll be headlining the UFC Fight Night 224 event at UFC Apex in Vegas. Her opponent on Saturday is Mayra Bueno Silva who’s seen as an underdog, although her odds aren’t extremely long.
One of the main reasons why “Sheetara” isn’t expected to get humiliated in Vegas is that Holm wasn’t really preparing for this fight, at least not for too long. Bueno Silva was originally supposed to fight Miesha Tate, but she withdrew, and Holm stepped in as her replacement.
When, Where, and How to Watch?
Place: UFC Apex in Las Vegas, Nevada
Date: Saturday, July 15, 2023
Time: 10:00 p.m. (Eastern Time)
How to Watch: ESPN/ESPN+
Holly Holm vs. Mayra Bueno Silva Prediction
Although it’s true that Holly Holm hasn’t had too much time to prepare for the fight with Mayra Bueno Silva, she definitely has what it takes to win the UFC Fight Night 224 main event. She’s way stronger than her opponent, leaving fans certain buzz on MMA betting odds. She also possesses a decent set of wrestling skills, so no one should be surprised if she took “Sheetara” down and beat her with ground-and-pound.
Holly Holm Moving Towards UFC Bantamweight Title Challenge
Holly Holm (15-6) is a former UFC Bantamweight champion who won the title in 2015 after stunning the highly favored Ronda Rousey with a KO in round 2. It remains one of the biggest upsets in the history of the UFC, as well as one of Holm’s best performances to date.
Unfortunately for “The Preacher’s Daughter” her bantamweight reign did not last for too long. In her first title defense, she lost to Miesha Tate by submission. A series of losses followed, although to be fair, she did fight some really tough opponents. She was even given the chance to fight for the title (twice in the featherweight division and once in bantamweight), but she didn’t take them.
After losing to Amanda Nunes by TKO in round 1 in the bantamweight title fight in 2019, everyone thought she was finished. But she came back in 2020 to fight twice – beating Raquel Pennington and Irene Aldana, each by unanimous decision.
The win over Aldana was particularly impressive. Holm landed five takedowns in that fight, while also recording 154 significant strikes (85 more than Aldana). Many MMA pundits said she would leave it there, but she couldn’t stay away from the Octagon for too long.
After a two-year hiatus during which she had some health problems, she made her way back to the MMA realm to fight Ketlen Vieira, who ended up beating her by a split decision. Once again, people thought she was going to retire, but she came back again. Last March, she beat Yana Santos by unanimous decision in a fight in which Holm’s wrestling prowess came to the fore.
Thanks to that win, she moved up to third place in the UFC Bantamweight rankings, which means that she could get another shot at the title soon. Of course, for that to happen, she would need to beat Mayra Bueno Silva at UFC Fight Night 224, preferably with a finish.
Mayra Bueno Silva Might Hold the Key to Defeating Holm
Mayra Bueno Silva is 10-2 overall, also with one fight that was declared a draw. She’s never lost a fight inside the distance, despite fighting against some decent finishers along the way (e.g., Montana De La Rosa, Manon Fiorot, etc.).
More importantly for the UFC Fight Night 224 headliner, she’s got a 70% submission-to-win ratio, which wins over such incredible grapplers as Gillian Robertson and Wu Yanan. The reason why this is important is that Holm hasn’t done too great against good grapplers in the past. Plus, Holm’s takedown skills might not prove too useful against “Sheetara” as she’s got a TD defense of 67% in the UFC.
What she lacks is power. She’s a small bantamweight fighter who tends to land a lot of strikes of low intensity. This explains why she hasn’t won by KO/TKO since 2016, and even that happened after her opponent decided to retire from the fight.
Pick: Holly Holm to win
Holly Holm vs. Mayra Bueno Silva Odds
Moneyline Odds
Holly Holm -165
Mayra Bueno Silva +135
*Odds taken from BetUS on Monday, July 10, 2023.
