“Big Mouth” is back.
Kevin Holland has returned to his home state of Texas after working on his wrestling in different states. The new habits he picked up along the way may have improved his game in the cage, but no help is needed on the mic.
The Comeback
The UFC Middleweight contender returns to the Octagon on October 2nd against Kyle Daukaus in a shot to show he belongs with the elite. Holland has lost his last 2 fights, in back-to-back main events against Derek Brunson and Marvin Vettori. Mind you, these 5-rounders were just weeks apart from each other.
Months later and with work put in, the Texan already has big plans in mind. A win over Daukaus in October and a fight with the returning Luke Rockhold is something on his holiday wishlist.
“Luke [Rockhold] deserves a fight.” Holland told MMA Island. “As long as my name’s ringing bells after this fight– Luke deserves somebody with a nice name right now. My name is not as hot as it needs to be. So, if the name’s hot as it needs to be after the fight, me and Luke can run it. You got a glass jaw, you should watch your mouth, right? That’s what 50 Cent said.
“If everybody wants to see me fight Luke Rockhold, I would love for it to be this year.” Holland added. “If it’s going to be this year, it’s probably gonna have to be like a decent card at the end of the year. Everybody hates to see me at main events, but maybe another main event at the end of the year because Luke Rockhold is a big name. First things first, man, let’s get past this guy [Kyle Daukaus]. Once we get past this guy, [we’ll] show the whole world that we’re learning how to wrestle, then we’ll see whatever it is, whatever the UFC wants me to do. I always say I’m a company man. I’m here for the smacking of all smackings and I’m the smack man, baby.”
Rockhold’s Thoughts
The former UFC kingpin has shown a bit of respect towards to Holland, stating he is open to the matchup amidst an allegedly scared middleweight division.
“I was looking at ‘85ers, top-10 ranked guys, I wanted solid guys.” Rockhold told MMA Fighting. “Uriah Hall went the other way and chose a different guy. I know my management talked with Kevin Holland and he actually reached out to me. He’s the only guy that reached out to me personally and was like, ‘Who said I was ducking?’ And I was like, ‘I don’t know, the managers talked and it didn’t sound like it was the direction they wanted to go.’ He was like, ‘No, no, no, let me handle my business and I’ll step up and do my thing.’ That guy, respect to him, he’s the man. He’s the only guy, I’m assuming, that wanted something that’s interesting, so we’ll see if that comes later.”
Blast From The Past
“After that, I think my name’s back right where it needs to be. we can go figure out one of the two guys on the hump sessions. Brunson said, he’d be down to do it again in the inbox. Maybe he’ll say it out publicly and we can get that figured out. Marvin blocked me. So I can’t negotiate that no more. So we’ll see what’s up.
“You know, these guys, they do a lot of talking, but at the end of the day, they don’t do no striking. They just do a lot of laying and praying.”
Kevin Holland will have to first get past his next test with Kyle Daukaus in order to take on the full exam that is Luke Rockhold and other elite middleweights.
