The bar has been set high, for sure, because of what a wonder Holm’s one hit was. The head-kick knockout that felled the seemingly unbeatable Ronda Rousey back in November was the mixed martial arts equivalent of an out-of-nowhere hit song knocking the Beatles off the pop charts. Entering their fight, Rousey was John, Paul, George, and Ringo all rolled into one; then along came Holm, a former world champion pro boxer, and everything changed dramatically.

It wasn’t that pundits and fans dismissed the 34-year-old New Mexican’s boxing credentials. It was more a matter of her being relatively inexperienced in MMA: She had had nine professional fights, all victories, but just two had come in the top-tier UFC, and Holm had been unspectacular in both. She trains under two of the leading coaches in the sport, Greg Jackson and Mike Winkeljohn, whose fabled gym in Albuquerque is also the fighting home of former light heavyweight champ Jon Jones. The thinking was that the fighter known as “The Preacher’s Daughter” still needed time before she’d have a prayer against Rousey.

Holm was all set to get that extra prep time, too, because the UFC originally matched Rousey with a different challenger. Ironically enough, it was Tate, but the promotion ultimately changed. Rather than matching Rousey with Tate, whom the champ had defeated twice before, UFC went with the unbeaten champion boxer, and the matchup was promotional magic. Rousey vs. Holm drew a UFC-record 56,214 fans to Etihad Stadium in Melbourne, Australia, and attracted a massive pay-per-view TV audience of 1.1 million, according to industry estimates.

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Now Tate (17-5) is finally getting the title shot that was yanked away from her, and she’s happy on many levels. For one thing, she’s glad her opponent is someone other than Rousey. It’s not that the 29-year-old from Spokane, Wash., lacks confidence — “I feel like I was just starting to figure out that Ronda puzzle,” she says — but rather that she won’t miss the relentless feuding that went on between her and her Rousey.

“It’s kind of refreshing to not have this be against Ronda and have to go through all the drama,” Tate said.

What Tate must go through instead is diametrically opposed to what she faced with Rousey. Whereas the former champion is a submission grappler with Olympic medalist credentials, the current top dog is the most decorated striker in MMA, with 16 world championship title defenses during her boxing career.

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“If anything, I think I’m probably a little more anxious for this fight than I would be for another one with Ronda,” Tate said. “This is a whole new puzzle.”

How each fighter fared against Rousey is no indicator of what might happen Saturday night. Tate presents the new champ with a more diverse challenge. Her wrestling is aggressive and relentless, and her standup game, while not on the level of Holm’s, is tighter than Rousey’s. Tate also is less ego-driven, so expect her to try to exploit her opponent’s weak points rather than go at her strength. You can surmise where Holm, with 38 pro boxing and three kickboxing bouts but no wrestling background on her resume, might be vulnerable.

As for Holm, she sees the danger of Tate in a more holistic way. She notes that whereas Rousey has been a front-runner her whole career, finishing the majority of her opponents in less than a minute, Tate has persevered through choppy waters.