In a perfect world, Holly Holm would do both MMA and boxing after parting ways with the UFC

Holly Holm may have opted to leave the UFC, but she’s not done fighting.

The former UFC women’s bantamweight champion and boxing Hall of Famer requested her UFC release, and got her wish. Holm was inducted into the International Women’s Boxing Hall of Fame in 2017 and the International Boxing Hall of Fame five years later.

Holm (15-7 MMA, 8-7 UFC), 43, plans on exploring free agency, but has both MMA and boxing in her sights.

“In a perfect world, I’ll do both – if I can,” Holm said on “The Ariel Helwani Show.” “I would like to have another fight for MMA, and another fight for boxing – (one each). I think that would be awesome. When I go for runs and when I picture things I want to do, I still want another head-kick knockout.

“You can’t do that in boxing. Then, I also think, man it would be really cool to go and fight for a fourth weight division in boxing. So why not? I think of both things pretty much down the middle. Maybe I lean a little more toward MMA first, but I don’t know – I just want to see what opens.”

Holm opened up on her decision to part ways with the UFC, despite having two fights left on her contract. She hasn’t competed since a submission loss to Kayla Harrison at UFC 300 in April.

“It’s been eight months since my last fight, and I know that I’m not going to fight forever,” Holm said. “But I still want a couple more, and I had been in a little bit of talks just trying to see if anything would happen, and I did want to be able to dance in the UFC octagon one more time.

“But it just didn’t seem like it was something that was going to be promised. I did have two fights left on the contract, but that’s not always promised, and I didn’t want to wait around forever, either. I wanted to see what other options there are. There’s no negative thoughts. There’s no hate or anything like that.”