Kevin Holland’s five-fight victory came to an end on Saturday after he unanimously lost Derek Brunson in the UFC Vegas 22 game.
While Holland chatted with Brunson for a long time during the fight – even former lightweight champion Khabib Nurmagomedov asked for advice between rounds, he was ultimately unable to stay off his back, this is where he spent most of 25 minutes. has.
Before this setback, Holland behaved the same way while finishing four of his last five opponents, but the trash talk apparently did not bother Brunson, who remained composting as he trotted up the scorecards to claim the victory.
Afterwards, UFC president Dana White criticized Holland’s performance, not to mention his constant antics during the fight.
“I think it was a mental breakdown,” White told Yahoo! Sport after the event. ‘The only other thing I saw was [in boxing] when Lennox Lewis fought with that man [Oliver McCall] who held his hands to his side and wept.
“I do not know what he did. I think he might not have been able to handle the pressure and just broke mentally. I have never seen anything like it. ”
In addition to his mid-fight conversation with Nurmagomedov, who sat on a cage at UFC APEX, Holland also addressed White and this only exacerbated the UFC president, especially given what he saw unfold in the octagon.
“He didn’t hurt anything,” White said. “He thought everyone here was inside his friend and he just wanted to have fun.”
Despite White’s remarks to Holland after his performance, Brunson disagrees that the talks and antics really played a role in the outcome.
Instead, Brunson was quick to point to his dominant wrestling window, where he repeatedly took Holland down during the fight and never really allowed himself to get off the mat until a round was over.
“No, he just could not stop the removal,” Brunson said during the press conference after the fight over Holland. “It’s funny. He’s holding his hips. He’s a guy who’s very explosive, likes to run in, but he’s tall, so he sometimes gets away with it. Then he keeps his hips on, and he was there for the decrease.
‘Dana White is one of these guys, he’ll be upset about you, I’m going to come out the next fight and knock out a guy and he’s going to be happy again. This is all well and good. I went [against] [Edmen] Shahbazyan and the last fight of the child completed, and I did not get a bonus for that fight. Main event. Done with him. No one was happy with that. So that’s what it’s. I’m coming out here to fight. Every fight may not be pretty, but I’ve been here a long time. This section was kind of built on my back. I’m having these crazy fights, so that’s what it’s. ”
For anyone to say that Holland is acting bizarre or that his antics were suddenly introduced during his first major match, it is possible that they have not watched him compete over the past year. of each performance.
The outcome may have been different, but Brunson argues that Holland was still the same.
“That’s what Kevin Holland does,” Brunson said. He talked all the time. Anyone can change the narrative. ”
For all the ways they clashed on social media and through interviews that led during the main event at UFC Vegas 22, it seems that Holland and Brunson can definitely agree on at least one topic now that the fight is over.
“Never stop talking,” Holland said in a post posted on Instagram after the main event. ‘If you do not like it, cheat it.
‘I will be me [till] I’m dying. Never said I want to be the champion. I said I wanted to have a good time and that I did. On the following. ”