At this precise moment, UFC middleweight Kevin Holland may be hanging out, eating, training, even sleeping…but whatever he is doing, you can be sure of one thing: he is also talking.
Tomorrow night, Dana White’s Tuesday Night Contender Series will make its return, and one of its alums, Kevin Holland, talked the whole way through his appearance on the show as he peppered Will Santiago en route to a unanimous decision victory. Little did fans know at the time that the man Dana White would later christen “Big Mouth” had also talked his way to a future short-notice opportunity against Thiago Santos, where his talking was on just as much display as his exciting fighting style in a fight that showcased why the “Big Mouth” moniker is well-suited for Holland, as he himself will tell you (Transcript via MMA Junkie):
“I really don’t mind the [nickname] ‘Big Mouth,’ Holland told MMA Junkie Radio. “I think it’s cool. You don’t choose your nicknames they’re granted to you. When I was younger, ‘Trailblazer’ was granted to me, so I ran with it. ‘Big Mouth’ was granted to me by Dana White, you run with it. Some people would say it’s a bad thing, I think it’s a good thing as long as you can live up to it. I can live up to it.”
Kevin Holland has lived up and backed up all the talk after his loss to Thiago Santos, rallying back for two consecutive victories over John Phillips and Gerald Meerschaert. Due to these performances, Holland was able to sit down with the UFC brass and surely talk his way to a new four-fight deal, and he plans to keep on talking because that’s just what he does:
“[Talk] helped me a lot,” Holland said. “If you watch the Contender Series and you watch that particular time. You had what’s his name? He used to be in the NFL … Greg Hardy. Greg Hardy was the main event of that card, but I felt like I was still in the shine. Even though I didn’t get the contract, everybody was remembering me because they were like, ‘Man, this kid talked too much.’ It was a cool thing. Either you liked it or you hated it. And a lot of people hated it. But you remember me.”
“So when you see me you’re like, ‘Oh I remember this guy. This is the guy who just kept talking his whole fight. He won, but he just talked the whole fight. So when I went to Syndicate, I train at Syndicate now that I live in [Las Vegas]. The guy was like, ‘Yeah, I remember you. You just wouldn’t shut up. I was cussing at my TV the whole time.’ So that’s a great way to meet the coach. John Wood knew who I was [and] remembered my fight detailed. All because I just kept talking.”
Kevin Holland takes on Alessio Di Chirico on the main card of UFC Greenville this Saturday, June 22, streaming on ESPN+.
