Last month, bantamweight Cornelia Holm stood on top of the IMMAF World Championships podium with a gold medal around her neck. Now the Swede has her eye on the gold again in the African Open taking place in South Africa between August 29th to September 4th. MMAViking.com talks to Gothenburg based fighter about her step into the world of MMA, being the world champion, and her future.
Tell us a bit about yourself, how you got in to martial arts and MMA?
I started with MMA about 3 years ago. I’m having a hard time remembering exactly why I started, all I know is that i was hooked right away! When I was somewhere around 10 years old I started with Jiu Jitsu and then moved on to wrestling when I was 12. I had been injured and was getting a bit tired of the wrestling, so I had been away from it for a few years, so it was time for me to try something new. Now 3 years later here I am with a 7-3 record as an amateur.
Now that you have landed a bit after the IMMAF World Championships, how does it feel to have brought that gold medal home after a solid performance?
World Champion, it still doesn’t feel real. Even though this was my goal and I was sure that I would succeed it’s hard to take in.
Is it your goal to turn pro in MMA?
Yes it definitely is, this was only the beginning. I will go pro and I will start planning for it right away. Being smart and all that.
So how many amateur fights do you have left before aiming at the pro scene?
I will stay amateur the year out, hopefully going a bunch of matches before new years. If it only comes down to one fight that’s OK but if it will be 5 fights that would be nice.
I saw that you are doing a type of ‘Fund Me’ campaign ahead of this IMMAF African Open, please tell me about that whole thing and how it works?
That’s right, my rally! I started it after a few days of agony and shame, it felt so hard to go out and ask for money but i realized that if I’m going to make to the African Open in South Africa I need help. So I created a profile on RallyMe, a site for athletes/teams that need funding for different things. So far I have managed to gather half of what I need so hopefully some more will come in so that I definitely can go, but it feels like it will work out!.
How does the future look for Cornelia Holm, the fighter?
My future is bright, I see UFC contracts and dollar dollar bills y’all!
For anyone out there that feel like you would like to help Cornelia get to the IMMAF African Open in South Africa check out her rallyme site at: https://www.rallyme.com/rallies/4291
