Derek Brunson is planning on having a big performance against Kevin Holland.
It was announced by the UFC on Wednesday that the pair would compete in a ranked middleweight headliner in the promotion’s upcoming March 20 card in Las Vegas.
Big Mouth got his guy 🗣
📍 @DerekBrunson & @Trailblaze2top main event March 20 at #UFCVegas22. pic.twitter.com/u4yYyEPewq
— UFC (@ufc) February 17, 2021
And Brunson — who is on a three-fight winning streak — expects to have one of his better showings against the red-hot Holland.
“Training’s going well,” Brunson told The Schmozone Podcast. “I’m in very good shape already and I have like four weeks to even add to that. It’s going to be great for me. I expect to have one of my better showings of all time.”
Holland notably asked for the fight with Brunson and claimed he wanted to beat him because of the latter’s “awkward” striking.
He went a step further later on by outlining his desire to knock Brunson out with his “cojones” for what he dubbed the knockout of the century.
So what does Brunson think of all the trash talk?
“It’s funny. It doesn’t matter to me,” Brunson said. “Sometimes, I’ll talk trash. Kevin Holland’s trash talk is a little cheesy. It’s just like corny, 12, 13, 14, 15 year olds would find it funny.
“I’m cool for the trash talk. He don’t really have a legit beef. He’s just trying to be funny. I just want to know if he’s going to think it’s funny after the fight.”
Brunson Looking To Derail Another Hype Train
Brunson has become a sort of gatekeeper in the middleweight division with the likes of Robert Whittaker and Israel Adesanya getting title shots soon after defeating him.
One fighter, however, who couldn’t get past Brunson was Edmen Shahbazyan, who suffered his first professional loss to the former following a third-round TKO defeat back in August.
And Brunson plans on derailing another hype train in Holland, who is currently on a five-fight winning strak.
“They’re all hype trains in terms of the fans riding behind them,” Brunson added. “I think Shahbazyan has a little bit more of a higher skillset, just a better overall fighter.
“But Kevin Holland is confident right now, he’s believing everything that he’s doing. He thinks he can be champion which I’m sure Edmen did also. But that’s my job to go out there and put all those thoughts and dreams away — postpone them at least.”
You can watch the full interview below:
