Ex-UFC champion Holly Holm to make boxing return after joining Jake Paul's Most Valuable Promotions

Former UFC bantamweight title holder Holly Holm is targeting another world title in boxing as she prepares to return to the ring at the end of June.

Holm follows several marquee women fighters to join Jake Paul's Most Valuable Promotions.

Unified featherweight world champion Amanda Serrano signed a lifetime contract with MVP and she is accompanied by undisputed women's junior lightweight champion Alycia Baumgardner, WBC interim junior welterweight title holder Chantelle Cameron and former undisputed super middleweight champ Savannah Marshall in Paul's stable of stars.

One of the most recognisable names in women's combat sports, Holm is yet another blockbuster addition to the MVP camp and her first fight under new management will be against Mexico's Yolanda Vega on 28 June at the Honda Centre in Anaheim, California.

Holm's encounter with Vega features on the undercard of Paul's fight with Mexico's Julio Cesar Chavez Jr.

"This new chapter is going to be an exciting journey, and I'm looking forward to the challenge," said Holm.

"Coming full circle back to boxing... I've spent most of my MMA career at 135 pounds (9st 9lb), and now I have the opportunity to make my boxing debut at that weight.

With boxing titles in three higher weight classes under my belt, I'm eager to pursue a fourth title in a new division.

Making her professional boxing debut in 2002, Holm won 33 of her 38 boxing fights on her way to becoming a multiple weight world champion.

The 43-year-old American switched to MMA in 2011 and joined the UFC in 2015, where she claimed the bantamweight title by knocking out Ronda Rousey and won eight of her 16 bouts in the promotion.

A member of the 2022 International Boxing Hall of Fame, Holm may be in line to face one of the four lightweight champions - Terri Harper (WBO), Beatriz Ferreira (IBF), Stephanie Han (WBA) and Caroline Dubois (WBC) - if she overcomes Vega in her comeback.

Jaquob Crooke

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