Kevin Holland believes Derek Brunson’s striking is an affront to the integrity of mixed martial arts, and he feels the need to fight him over it.
After a 5-0 routing of 2020, Kevin Holland is already setting his eyes on 2021. Originally, Holland wanted to shoot for 6-0 and cement himself as the true king of the “anywhere, anytime” division at the expense of Khamzat Chimaev, but with Chimaev already booked to fight Leon Edwards, the promotion did not consider double-booking the Smesh Machine. So with Chimaev out, Holland now believes that a fight with Derek Brunson would make sense in what would also be a double-booking: one part UFC bout, other part striking lesson.
“I would love for it to be. I would love for it to be,” Kevin Holland told ESPN when asked about a potential fight against Derek Brunson next. “If you keep speaking it, it may just happen! We’ve had a few little talks. We were supposed to be on the same card when he fought Edmen Shahbazyan. I was supposed to fight Trevin Giles.
“I was lowkey hoping his fight fell apart so I could fight him that night,” Holland continued. “Didn’t work out. I was watching him work out in the backroom. He just looks weird when he warms up. He just strikes so funny to me. I want to beat him up because I don’t like the way he strikes. It just looks awkward. It’s like a disrespect to striking. It’s sad that he’s knocked out strikers before with that weird striking.”
Indeed, Derek Brunson’s unorthodox striking has paid dividends for him on many occasions, 12 to be exact, including 7 in the UFC. Derek Brunson is currently ranked #7, and Kevin Holland recently surged up to #10 after defeating Jacare Souza at UFC 256. Brunson has been looking for a fight for some time now after his most recent victory over Edmen Shabayzan, so perhaps Brunson will look to add Kevin Holland to his KO résumé and thus silence this “Big Mouth” literally and figuratively.
How do you think a fight between Kevin Holland and Derek Brunson would play out?
