Mar 30, 2019; Philadelphia, PA, USA; Kevin Holland smiles between rounds in his fight against Gerald Meerschaert (not pictured) during UFC Fight Night at Wells Fargo Arena. Holland won the fight. Mandatory Credit: Bill Streicher-USA TODAY Sports
Kevin Holland set to drop to welterweight against Alex Oliveira at UFC 272
Kevin Holland will finally make the drop to welterweight.
Holland has hinted at going to 170-pounds for quite some time and now it has been made official. The fan-favorite posted on his OnlyFans that he is set to fight Alex Oliveira at UFC 272 on March 5 at the T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas Nevada.
Kevin Holland (21-7 and one No Contest) had a phenomenal 2020 as he went 5-0 but struggled mightily in 2021 as he suffered a lopsided decision to Derek Brunson. He then had a quick turnaround and was dominated once against by Marvin Vettori before fighting Kyle Daukaus where he got submitted but the fight was overturned to a No Contest due to an accidental clash of heads which led to the submission.
Holland is currently ranked 14th at middleweight but will now be off to a new weight class as he looks to find new success. In the UFC, he holds notable wins over Jacare Souza, Anthony Hernandez, Darren Stewart, Joaquin Buckley, and Gerald Meerschaert. He also beat Geoff Neal on the regional scene.
Alex Oliveira (22-11-1 and two No Contests) is on a three-fight losing streak and could be fighting for his UFC job. He last fought back in October where he suffered a decision loss to Niko Price. Prior to that, he suffered back-to-back submission losses to Randy Brown and Shavkat Rakhmonov. He’s been in the UFC since 2015 and is 11-9 inside the Octagon with notable wins over Carlos Condit, Max Griffin and Tim Means among others.
UFC 272 was supposed to see two titles fights on the card but recent reports say Volkanovski’s title defense and Sterling-Yan 2 will be moved to UFC 273.
With the addition of Holland vs. Oliveira, UFC 272 is now as follows
- Edson Barboza vs. Bryce Mitchell
- Jessica Eye vs. Manon Fiorot
- Mariya Agapova vs. Maryna Moroz
- Dustin Jacoby vs. Michal Oleksiejczuk
- Tim Elliott vs. Tagir Ulanbekov
- Marina Rodriguez vs. Yan Xiaonan
- Kevin Holland vs. Alex Oliveira
