Jack Hermansson says Kevin Holland talks so much because “he can’t handle the pressure”
UFC middleweight Jack Hermansson has a theory on why divisional rival Kevin Holland talks so much during his fights inside the Octagon.
Hermansson, the No. 7 ranked welterweight, was originally set to fight Holland last December. However, things were switched around and Hermansson ended up fighting Marvin Vettori, while Holland fought Jacare Souza. Hermansson suffered an orbital bone injury and went on to lose a unanimous decision to Vettori, while Holland knocked out Jacare. That win earned Holland a shot at top-10 ranked Derek Brunson in a main event, but he didn’t make the most of the opportunity as Brunson dominated him for a unanimous decision win.
Not only did Holland lose to Brunson in a one-sided fashion, but he showed no sense of urgency at any point throughout the fight despite clearly being down on the scorecards. Not only that, but he kept talking even though he was down big on the judges’ scorecards. Although Holland has talked in his fights before, he backed it up by winning. This time he lost and his overtalking has been criticized in the aftermath of his defeat.
Speaking to James Lynch of MMA News, Hermansson offered a theory as to why Holland talks so much. In the opinion of Hermansson, it’s because Holland wants to relieve the pressure when things aren’t going his way.
“I don’t know (why he talks so much), but when I see that, I just think that he can’t handle the pressure and he needs to ventilate and just get that pressure out of him when things aren’t going his way. It feels like it’s some kind of self-therapy he’s working on when he’s fighting. It’s really weird,” Hermansson said.
“The Joker” was also critical of Holland’s gameplan, suggesting that choosing to lay on his back was a bad decision on his part, especially since he didn’t want to listen to his coaches.
“I couldn’t see him taking the information from his coaches or anything like that. They told him to get up and he’s lying there with a body triangle from the bottom. With a body triangle from the bottom, you’re locking yourself in a position. You can’t do anything offensive from there you can’t get up, you can’t get any submissions from there. I think it’s not the best move to pull off from there,” Hermansson said.
“But what can I say, everybody can have a bad performance. It’s going to be interesting to see if he continues the talking in his next fight. But after the fight, he said he was just trying to have fun. I feel like he’s always trying to release the pressure from his shoulder.”
Do you agree with what Jack Hermansson said about Kevin Holland?
