After Sean Brady had to withdraw from his fight against Jack Della Maddalena this upcoming Saturday at UFC 290, Kevin Holland has thrown his hat into the ring as a potential replacement.
If Holland is serious about fighting this weekend, it would say a lot about his character, as he’s scheduled to also fight at UFC 291 in Salt Lake City on the Dustin Poirier vs. Justin Gaethje undercard. Should he take on Jack Della Maddalena on Saturday, he will fight twice in July, provided he didn’t pick up any injuries.
Being active is familiar to ‘Trailblazer,’ so his comments should be taken seriously. He fought on five occasions during 2020 and in the process tied the UFC’s record for most wins in a calendar year (he won all five). He then fought three times in 2021 and four times last year, most of which were highly entertaining. His loss against Stephen Thompson earned him a ‘Fight of the Night’ bonus, and he received ‘Performance of the Night’ bonuses for his victories over Tim Means and Alex Oliveira.
The willingness of ‘Trailblazer’ to fight on such short notice will garner even more respect from both fans and the UFC itself than he already has. It wouldn’t be the first time his flexibility and willingness to alter his schedule have made the news. Last year, he was due to fight Daniel Rodriguez at UFC 279, initially expected to be headlined by Khamzat Chimaev vs. Nate Diaz. Chimaev missed weight by a whopping ten pounds, which caused mayhem to the card and led to three of the fights being amended at the eleventh hour.
One of the fights affected was Holland’s. He agreed to face Chimaev at a 180-pound catchweight instead of his original opponent, ‘D-Rod.’ His new fight was a lot tougher, with Chimaev being one of the emerging stars in the UFC who was on a tear, defeating his opponents using various methods in very little time. Holland ultimately lost via a first-round submission; however, he won many new fans in the process.
The UFC will have to weigh whether it’s a risk worth taking putting Holland on the card for this Saturday at the T-Mobile Arena. His fight against the number twelve-ranked welterweight, Michael Chiesa, at UFC 291 is probably bigger, but the card is already stacked from top-to-bottom so if it were to be scrapped, it wouldn’t hurt the event as much as it would have done if it were canceled on one of the more recent cards. However, UFC 290 is equally as stacked, so Della Maddalena may fight on an upcoming card instead of being given a fresh opponent. If Holland ends up competing this weekend, there will be just nineteen days of recovery before his bout with Chiesa, so even a minor injury could jeopardize the fight.
Either way, we’ll be seeing ‘Trailblazer’ fight soon, and if history is anything to go by, there will be fireworks; whether in Las Vegas, Salt Lake City, or both.
Discussion about this post