Kevin Holland will make his welterweight UFC debut in March.
On Monday, the UFC’s resident ‘Big Mouth’ announced via his ‘OnlyFans‘ that he will be fighting Alex ‘Cowboy’ Oliveira on March 5 at UFC 272, which will take place from T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas, Nevada.
Holland even dressed up as a cowboy for the announcement.
Kevin Holland just announced on his OnlyFans he’ll be fight Alex Oliveira at #UFC272.
The announcement included him singing country and riding a horse, because, of course it did. https://t.co/6PQxKRmU5y pic.twitter.com/NstoVUjuK1
— Nolan King (@mma_kings) January 10, 2022
Drop to welterweight
Holland teased a drop to welterweight after his loss to Marvin Vettori, and then before his fight with Kyle Daukaus during his media day, he told the media his plan.
“I have a jiu-jitsu match coming up at the end of the month, so I’ll do that match, and maybe I’ll keep the diet going after that and see how long it takes to hit 170lbs, and how it feels and how I feel the next day. I haven’t been 170lbs since I was 22, and I’m 28 now, but I think I can do it now, more than I could before.”
The day before Thanksgiving, Holland put out a video on his Instagram confirming he was dropping to the 170-pound division.
“In 2022 I’m taking my talents to the 170lb division..,” Holland wrote.
Trailblazer vs. The Brazilian Cowboy
After a fantastic 2020, in which Holland (21-7) fought five times, winning all five fights, he has hit a wall. Last March, he headlined his first UFC Fight Night against Derek Brunson but lost a unanimous decision.
He returned to action on short notice three weeks later, which tied the record for the fastest turnaround between two main events against Marvin Vettori. Holland lost another dominant unanimous decision.
‘Trailblazer’ ended his year with a no-contest against Kyle Daukaus after a clash of heads that led to him being choked out.
Oliveira (22-11-2) is riding the second three-fight losing streak of his UFC career. In his most recent outing, he lost a unanimous decision to Niko Price at UFC Fight Night: Santos vs. Walker. Before that, he was submitted by Randy Brown and Shavkat Rakhmonov.
