Kevin Holland Won’t Change Vocal Approach in Fights, Considers Move to 170 Pounds

Kevin Holland is who he is, and don’t expect that to change following a loss to Derek Brunson at UFC on ESPN 21.

Holland was criticized for his willingness to talk throughout a fight in which he was taken down repeatedly and spent large portions of the contest on his back. The end result was a unanimous decision loss and the end of a five-bout winning streak at 185 pounds.

“Never going to stop talking,” Holland said on Instagram. “If you guys don’t f---ing like it, deuces. … I’m gonna be me till I die, never said I wanted to be the champ I said I wanted to have a good time and that I did on to the next.”

Though Holland was defiant regarding his chatty approach, he did acknowledge in a separate Instagram post that there are improvements he can make regarding his skills in the cage.

“Yes I will talk yes I will have fun but winning is a s--t load of fun as well,”he wrote. “I definitely hate letting you guys down, so fighting smarter, improving position and avoiding being taken down I’ll get back to work within the week.”

When Holland does return, it could be at 170 pounds. During an interview on the ESPN post-fight show, “Trailblazer” expressed an interest in moving to the welterweight division. Perhaps being taken down six times by Brunson made Holland want to explore his options.

“Honestly, I’d like to get a nutritionist and try 170,” Holland said. “Those boys are heavy in there at 85. It’s nothing I just can’t deal with. It’s just something that when you fight for 25 minutes, you think about that type of stuff.

“So if I could try a 70 fight, that would be awesome. Belal [Muhammad] kept mentioning my name getting ready for this fight, and I kept commenting on his little stuff. Belal coming off an eye poke, I’m coming off a loss. We wanted to fight before. Why not do it now?”

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