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Kevin Holland Winning While Losing
Kevin Holland (12-4) lost a decision to Thiago Santos (18-6) at UFC 227. He last fought on Dana White’s Tuesday Night Contender Series where he beat Will Santiago Jr. but did not get a contract.
Holland has a great skill set which he demonstrated at UFC 227 and in his Contender Series bout. Even though he lost, early in round one he attempted two submissions that were cause for concern for Santos and even hit a reversal at the close of round two that had him end the round in a dominant position.
Fans that missed his Contender Series fight that saw Holland for the first time at UFC 227 may be wondering why he wasn’t signed back then. The answer was on display during his fight at UFC 227 and his appearance on Contender Series.
His “big mouth” as White called him at the post-fight presser.
Santos lost his original opponent two weeks out from UFC 227 and White made calls to other Contender Series competitors but no one would come on short notice. So White said, “Call big mouth”, referring to Holland and said while he was impressed with his skills he was not a fan of the talking he does while fighting.
“He talked so much his mouthpiece fell out twice,” White said when speaking of Holland at the post-fight press conference. While White is not a fan of talkers, he is a fan of fighters that answer the call to fight on short notice. He did not say which celebrities found Holland impressive in his loss at UFC 227 but the ones he did speak to were impressed with the young man and his name come up a lot after the fight.
“I take it back. We will give him the proper time to train, get ready for a fight and we will give him another fight.”-Dana White
Holland proved that just because you do not get signed when you fight on White’s Tuesday night show all is not lost. Maybe Nick Newell could get a call the next time a fight falls out.
