- Dana White addressed Kevin Holland’s status
- The UFC boss wants “Trailblazer” to continue fighting
Prior to the first-round submission loss to Khamzat Chimaev at UFC 279, Kevin Holland was looking primed for an impressive run in the welterweight division. However, shortly after the defeat, “Trailblazer” seemingly retired from fighting.
UFC president Dana White was recently quizzed for comments about Holland’s status and the boss addressed it right away.
A friendly advice
In a post-DWCS Season 6 press conference, White said that he and Holland had already talked about the issue. However, the UFC boss did not divulge details. Instead, he hinted that “Trailblazer” just needs to think things over because clearly, what he sees is “an emotional guy” letting his emotions take over him.
“We talked about that too, obviously,” White said of Holland’s retirement hint. “You know, I’m really close to this kid and I like him a lot. I think when you are competing in a sport like this and you’ve done the things that Kevin Holland has done… he gets out of the fight with Derek Brunson and realizes that he needs to work on his wrestling more. So he dives in and starts working on his wrestling and I think what happened to him happens to you. I don’t know, I think he lay in bed and go, ‘Holy s**t! how did that happen to me?’ and He’s an emotional guy. I think the emotions got the best of him. Just take some time, get back in the gym.”
Too early
White also concluded that he’s not gonna hinder Holland from doing whatever he wants to do with his life. However, he is certain that retirement is too early to consider.
“I love the kid, whatever he wants to do, he can do. But, it’s a little too soon for him to retire,” White pointed out.
With the fight against Chimaev being a catchweight, Holland is still 2-0 as a welterweight, having finished both Tim Means and Alex Oliveira. Evidently, there’s still a handful of potential match-ups for “Trailblazer” but let’s see how things will play out for him.
