I know that's the prevailing notion. Holly has more experience against quality fighters. Not saying Holly will win, just that I don't feel it's a foregone conclusion. Pacheco pieced Harrison up the last time they met. Holly should still have her boxing skills and strength. We will see.
Well that is the other problem. Holly's boxing skills are shit. Yes, I am aware of her record but have discussed Holly's numerous technical failings extensively before. Fuck it.
Stance: all wrong. Too much weight on the front foot compounded by her regularly leaning forward which:
1. is part of the reason why someone with her athleticism gets hit so much
2. Why her punches have shit for power (or her left, which should be her power punch. She has to lean back slightly to put her hips into the punch because they are behind her shoulders.
3. Limits her movement (meaning she is either going to be off-balance when moving or has to take a brief instant to correct her balance first. No, this does not take even a second but we all know how important small increments are in a fight.
Actual boxing: she does not do it. There is a way a boxer punches and Holly does not use her legs properly (this is amazingly common in MMA but far more so in the women's house). Shevchenko has the same issue. If they actually use their legs like a boxer when punching they would have more power.
Movement (more than stance): Just plain bad. She shuffles from side to side, that is about all. She is fast because she is one hell of an athlete but really all she does is shuffle to one side or the other. No ring-cutting (ok, cage dammit) so she spends time chasing fighters with actual footwork. Sure, she is light on her feet but her technical footwork is just not there.
Set up: She tends to favor standing just outside of kicking range. This would be fine expect when she rushes in (straight line nearly every time) she starts jabbing from this range which means her jab is a throw away shot. Sometimes she will shuffle side kick (perhaps others know this technique by a different name) from this range which would be fine except her stance (she above) is also a little too square, which results in her needing to turn her hips a bit more to actually throw a decent side kick. And she leaves it hanging out there, hopping on one foot with the other in the air. Nunes timed this perfectly and came right over the top with a fight-ending round kick.
Her basic issue would be summed up as "she was never properly taught the basics" and now, well, how she fights is not going to change.
Holly has a basic problem that many women in MMA seem to have: their skills never caught up to her athleticism. Her conditioning is on par with any fighter, she is agile, reasonably strong but, well, she has glaring flaws in her technique.