Kevin Holland made his UFC debut by stepping in to face Thiago Santos on short notice on the main card of UFC 227. Following the fight, Dana White said at the UFC 227 Post-Fight Press Conference that the celebrities in attendance could not stop talking about Kevin Holland after his fight, which is appropriate because Kevin Holland couldn’t stop talking during his fight. Holland had a lot of fun in his fight against Thiago Santos, but cannot call it a year without changing the narrative on who he is as a fighter:
“Let me get an actual victory my next time out,” Holland told MMA Fighting. “I was begging my manager to get me a fight before the year was over with, because I didn’t want to go into the New Year as a loser. So I started booking jiu-jitsu matches and all kinds of things — just to get a taste of victory again. Nobody likes to be a loser. You’re only as good as your last fight and my last fight was a loss. So now I have to come back and I have to come back mean.
“And everybody says it’s a moral victory. I appreciate it. Got a little clout off of it and that’s cool and everything. But when people look at me, they’ve gotta see a winner. They’ve gotta see a champ and if you don’t see a champ and a winner, then all you see is a chump. “
As for Dana White, who coined the nickname “Big Mouth” for Kevin Holland, Holland is embracing that moniker and plans on putting it to use when he encounters Dana White following UFC Beijing:
“We haven’t spoken at all, but I would like to talk to him,” Holland said of Dana White. “I would definitely like to talk to Dana, because he called me ‘Big Mouth’ and I’m gonna run with it. And I just want to know if it’s OK if I just run with this to the moon and back. I have a feeling that this ‘Big Mouth’ thing can go real far. For Dana White to say nice things about me, that’s awesome.
“It’s always nice for the person that’s writing your check to say good things about you. But at the end of the day, my job is not done yet, I have just gotten started. So if I can go out there and put this guy away the way that I envision putting this guy away, then I can go back and talk to Dana White again later on and we can be talking about real business moves. That’s what I’m looking forward to.”
How do you think Kevin Holland will fare in his sophomore Octagon appearance?
