Kevin Holland vs Derek Brunson in works for March UFC main event
Kevin Holland vs Derek Brunson will top the marquee for a UFC Fight Night set to go on March 20th. ESPN’s Brett Okamoto indicated that contracts have not been officially signed but both parties have agreed to the five-round contest, per sources.
The location for this event has not been specified as of this juncture.
Kevin Holland enters this Brunson bout on the heels of one of 2020’s best finishes and one of the best campaigns of the calendar year overall. Holland put himself in the promotion’s history books with his UFC 256 finish over Ronaldo Jacare Souza earlier this month. He did this by becoming the first middleweight to amass five victories in a given year.
Derek Brunson has been a stalwart of the UFC’s middleweight top ten. He is riding a three-fight win streak ahead of this Holland fight. Brunson’s last bout saw him finish Edmen Shahbazyan in August via third-round TKO and hand the previously unbeaten prospect his first loss.
Kevin Holland vs Derek Brunson
The last time Brunson has been defeated was against current middleweight king Israel Adesanya in November 2018. Adesanya is now looking for a shot at light-heavyweight champion Jan Blachowicz’s title in the new year though. This means the future for the promotion’s middleweight belt could become somewhat nebulous.
This fight between Holland and Brunson is likely to play a big role in informing the middleweight contendership hierarchy for 2021. Kevin Holland versus Derek Brunson pits number ten against number seven per the UFC’s official middleweight rankings.
These two also have exchanged a little bit of trash talk as of late. Both Brunson and Holland have been campaigning for this fight to a degree.
It adheres to competitive meritocracy, there’s a built-in storyline heading into it, and this bout definitely serves to bolster the first quarter of the calendar year for UFC programming.
Who do you think gets the nod when Kevin Holland and Derek Brunson lock horns next year?
