"Holly was a good boxer," Roach said of Holm, who meets Ronda Rousey in the main event of Saturday's UFC 193 in Australia. "She beat some good fighters, maybe they were a little older when she fought them, Mia St. John, but, she has some good wins."
But while Roach comes from a boxing background, he's not blindly allegiant to the Sweet Science, and he's not about to go picking against Rousey she and Holm collide.
"Female boxing never really caught on like Ronda Rousey has," said Roach, who helped school Rousey in boxing at his Wild Card gym in Hollywood early in Rousey's MMA career.