Ronda Rousey‘s recent prediction about ‘cleaning Holly Holm’s clock’ obviously didn’t go unanswered for long.

Just days after the former UFC bantamweight champion declared she would defeat ‘The Preacher’s Daughter’ in a rematch, Holm fired back, questioning whether ‘Rowdy’ ever truly wanted to run it again in the first place. And, according to her, the rematch was never held up because of her.

Holly Holm dismissed Ronda Rousey’s confidence in an interview with Ariel Helwani, pointing to what has happened since their iconic fight at UFC 193, where Holm knocked out Rousey. While ‘Rowdy’ claims she is a completely different fighter who has the ability to change history, the 44-year-old argued that words and actions are not the same.

“You can say one thing, and actions are another,” Holm said. “She’s always going to be more of that type of person, and the thing is, I’ve always said that I would rematch her. That’s the bottom line.

“She doesn’t want it! She’s never wanted it, and that’s alright. I’m not mad at her for it. I don’t want someone to get in there and fight if they don’t actually want to fight, because I want someone who wants it.”

The exchange follows Ronda Rousey’s surprising return to MMA earlier this month. Competing for the first time in nearly a decade, ‘Rowdy’ submitted Gina Carano in just 17 seconds, reigniting talk of unfinished business from her UFC days.

Naturally, the victory drew attention back to Holly Holm, the woman who delivered Rousey her first professional loss with one of the most famous head-kick knockouts in combat sports history.

Ironically, Holm’s response may have only strengthened her original prediction. Although ‘Rowdy’ talked about what she could achieve in a rematch, she also constantly stated that fighting is no longer her priority and that her life has taken a different path.

“I definitely have the ability and the opportunity to be able to f—ing clean her clock and rewrite all of that, but it’s no longer important to me anymore,” Rousey said. “It doesn’t haunt me. It’s not the most important thing in my life, and these people’s perceptions and people knowing how great I am, and all this stuff.”

From Holm’s perspective, this is exactly why a second fight is unlikely to ever happen. So, even if the war of words has flared back up almost eleven years after UFC 193, the idea of these two legends settling their differences appears slim.

But what we do know is that this war of words surely has the MMA world talking, as Matt Brown has taken aim at Ronda Rousey for her bold prediction on Holly Holm.

Matt Brown claims Ronda Rousey learned nothing during her time away

The renewed back-and-forth between Holly Holm and Rousey didn’t just catch the attention of fans. It also drew a response from former UFC fighter Matt Brown, who believes the main issue is not Rousey’s confidence. It’s the fact that, despite a decade away from the sport, she appears to be creating the same public relations problems for herself.

Brown was quick to point out that believing in yourself is part of what made ‘Rowdy’ such a dominant champion in the first place. However, in his opinion, the prediction that she would ‘clean Holly Holm’s clock’ just brought back memories of the mindset that put her in trouble before their first bout.

After all, Holm is still a brutal fighter as she proved in her boxing match last week at Jake Paul‘s MVP event, where she suffered a controversial loss.

“It’s cool she believes in herself, I guess,” Brown told MMA Fighting. “The world is in her hands with that kind of belief. She’d get f—– up by Holly if they fought again. She’s literally the one person who doesn’t get it. She’s her own worst enemy.

“She became a gigantic star, and that’s great. She’s certainly still a star. Everybody watched her fight with Gina Carano. She’s still a very large name, but she’s her own worst enemy. She’s insufferable. I’m going to be her PR person for the next five seconds, and it’s really simple.”

Matt Brown’s advice for Ronda Rousey was brutally simple: stop talking.

“This is your PR, Ronda: Shut the hell up,” he continued. “Just don’t talk. Just don’t. We’ll like you a hell of a lot more. Just forget about it. Whatever is on your mind, just forget about it.”

Whether fans agree with him or not, his reaction just shows how polarizing Ronda Rousey remains. Even after ten years away from the UFC, a single prediction about Holly Holm sparked a new round of debate about one of the most influential figures in women’s MMA history.