Kevin Holland is who he is, and don’t expect that to change
following a loss to Derek Brunson at UFC on ESPN 21.
Holland was criticized for his willingness to talk throughout a
fight in which he was taken down repeatedly and spent large
portions of the contest on his back. The end result was a unanimous
decision loss and the end of a five-bout winning streak at 185
pounds.
“Never going to stop talking,” Holland said on Instagram. “If you
guys don’t f—ing like it, deuces. … I’m gonna be me till I die,
never said I wanted to be the champ I said I wanted to have a good
time and that I did on to the next.”
Though Holland was defiant regarding his chatty approach, he did
acknowledge in a separate Instagram post that there are
improvements he can make regarding his skills in the cage.
“Yes I will talk yes I will have fun but winning is a s–t load of
fun as well,”he wrote. “I definitely hate letting you guys down, so
fighting smarter, improving position and avoiding being taken down
I’ll get back to work within the week.”
When Holland does return, it could be at 170 pounds. During an
interview on the ESPN post-fight show, “Trailblazer” expressed an
interest in moving to the welterweight division. Perhaps being
taken down six times by Brunson made Holland want to explore his
options.
“Honestly, I’d like to get a nutritionist and try 170,” Holland
said. “Those boys are heavy in there at 85. It’s nothing I just
can’t deal with. It’s just something that when you fight for 25
minutes, you think about that type of stuff.
“So if I could try a 70 fight, that would be awesome. Belal
[Muhammad] kept mentioning my name getting ready for this fight,
and I kept commenting on his little stuff. Belal coming off an eye
poke, I’m coming off a loss. We wanted to fight before. Why not do
it now?”