In October, Kevin Holland momentarily shook the MMA community when it appeared he had called it quits on his combat sports career.
Fortunately, that turned out to not be the case, but during his appearance at the UFC Orlando media day event, the ‘Trailblazer’ revealed that he will gladly walk away from the UFC if undefeated welterweight Khamzat Chimaev is gifted a shot at the 185-pound title.
“(My retirement) was serious as hell – super serious,” Holland told reporters (transcribed by MMA Junkie). “It’s still on the table. If I wake up Sunday morning after beating ‘Wonderboy’ and you guys have Chimaev fighting for a 185-pound world title, and he’s never won a fight at ’85 in the Top 15, I’m retired. I understand business is business, but favoritism is favoritism. The kid missed weight. I had to step up and fight him after he missed weight to make the fight happen. I shouldn’t have had to do that.”
Kevin Holland has the record for most fights in a 12 month span. 👀 pic.twitter.com/Wa4ut3lAMb
— MMA On Point (@OnPointMMA) November 30, 2022
Kevin Holland is Ready to Walk Away If the UFC Gives Chimaev Him a Middleweight Title Fight
Originally scheduled to face Daniel Rodriguez at UFC 279, Holland found himself in the co-main event slot at the last second against Chimaev who had notoriously come in eight pounds overweight for his previously scheduled main event that night with Nate Diaz. The promotion was forced to scramble at the last minute, shifting around a majority of the main card. Holland sees no reason why Chimaev should be rewarded for causing the chaotic situation.
“I did what I had to do,” Holland continued. “I did what I was supposed to do as a company man, so I’m sitting here telling you guys now: Certain things have to go certain ways. If they don’t go certain ways and we don’t get what we were promised, the things we talked about aren’t honored, you might as well give me my resignation papers and go home and smoke weed and play video games for the rest of my life.”
Rumors of Khamzat Chimaev getting a middleweight title fight began to swirl when the Chechen-born fighter confirmed on Twitter that he had accepted a scrap with newly crowned champion Alex Pereira. It was later revealed that the UFC was in fact working to make that fight happen for UFC 282 on December 10th, but Pereira was unable to make the 185-pound limit on such short notice.
Kevin Holland will return to the Octagon this Saturday night at the Amway Center in Orlando, FL. ‘Trailblazer’ headline the card opposite Stephen ‘Wonderboy’ Thompson. It’s a big matchup for Holland with Thomspon sitting in the No. 6 spohttp://Stephen Thomspont on the middleweight rankings. A victory would skyrocket Holland to the middle of the division’s top ten and put him into the 185-pound title picture almost immediately.
