“Give me December 19. I don’t need to go
home!”@Trailblaze2top
wants a sixth fight in 2020
#UFC256 pic.twitter.com/ho40HwpxpX— ESPN MMA (@espnmma)
December 13, 2020
For the record, Kevin
Holland doesn’t mind giving out credit where credit is due.
After authoring just the second knockout in promotion history
stemming from a punch from bottom position against Ronaldo
Souza at UFC
256 on Saturday night, Holland dismissed the notion that his
finish should top year-end award lists for knockouts. That honor,
he says, belongs to Joaquin
Buckley, who went viral with a spinning back kick finish of
Impa
Kasanganay earlier this year. Coincidentally, Holland welcomed
Buckley to the Octagon with a third-round TKO at UFC Fight Night
174 on Aug. 8.
“Not KO of the year, Joaquin
Buckley got KO of the year, that’s my son, I birthed him into
the game and I’m super proud of him. I’d never take anything away
from him,” Holland said. “I’m super happy the way this year has
went, it’s fantastic, but it’s just the beginning. I’ve heard
people talking online that I didn’t fight enough stiff competition
this year, so let’s try and do the same thing next year with
stiffer competition and then they can’t say nothing, that’s what I
want.”
Holland’s signature triumph over “Jacare” completed a breakout 5-0
campaign for the fighter known as “Trailblazer.” Holland might be a
shoe-in for breakout fighter of the year were it not for red-hot
prospect Khamzhat Chimaev, who has received a serious push from the
Las Vegas-organization after victories in his first three
appearances.
After dispatching Souza, Holland called for a showdown with Chimaev
at UFC Fight Night 183 next week. Chimaev was slated to face
Leon
Edwards at the Dec. 19 event before Edwards tested positive for
COVID-19. Now, the bout is expected to be rebooked for Jan. 20.
Holland believes Chimaev’s reputation far exceeds the actual
in-cage product.
“…He doesn’t have a reputation for fighting all the time. That’s
just what the casuals think — that he fights all the time,” Holland
said. “He fought three times this year: Two times against bums and
another time against Gerald
Meerschaert. Gerald Meerschaert’s not a bum, but he was coming
off a knockout. He hasn’t beat anybody in the UFC with a win. But
at the same time, he’s a good ticket for the UFC, so let me stop
talking about somebody who can help us make money, right?”
By year’s end, it was Holland who become just the third modern era
UFC competitor to go 5-0 in a calendar year — and he did so under
the extenuating circumstances of a global pandemic.
“I stayed ready this year so I didn’t have to get ready,” he said.
“We were supposed to fight in March, so I trained all the way up
until March until the world shut down and we couldn’t do it and
then we just didn’t stop down. We stayed war ready this year.
“If I broke records this year, that means I need to break more
records next year. We’re just getting started. If I’m happy off
what I did, that means I can’t continue to grow.”