Jack Hermansson had a tough time getting an opponent.
After Darren Till was forced to withdraw from his December 5 main event against Hermansson, the Swede revealed five ranked opponents then turned him down. So, for the top-five contender, he will now have to fight unranked, Kevin Holland.
“Darren Till pulled out of our fight,” Hermansson said in a video posted on Instagram. “That sucks because preparation has been going really well. I’m in the best shape ever. I was really looking forward to fight Darren. I wanted to show you guys that I’m the best middleweight in Europe and that I’m the next true title contender. But what can you do, sh*t happens. So I can only wish Darren Till a good recovery.
“When we got the news, we asked the UFC for a replacement fight. Because yeah, the training camp has been going so good and I really want one more fight this year. So they started asking people above me in the rankings, below me in the rankings and at least five guys turned the fight down. But one guy was willing to fight and that was Kevin Holland. If you follow the sport you know he is a good up and comer. He’s on a great win streak right now. So I hope that this makes for an exciting fight.”
Jack Hermansson is coming off a submission win over Kelvin Gastelum to return to the win column after losing by TKO to Jared Cannonier. If Hermansson can go out and beat Holland, he could enter a No. 1 contender bout sometime in 2021.
