Kevin Holland suffers yet another defeat in 2021. The Trailblazer who was riding a 5 fight winning streak at the end of 2020 has lost to Derek Brunson and now Marvin Vettori in a span of 3 weeks.
The worst part about these two losses is both Brunson and Vettori followed the same game plan to beat Holland. Marvin Vettori outclassed Kevin Holland in the wrestling department and picked up a comfortable win at UFC Vegas 23. Though Holland looked sharp in striking the lack of skills to defend takedowns and get back up after a takedown cost him dearly yet again.
Kevin Holland has a ton of potential. But, unless he fixes these gaps in his skills he is not going to do that well against the top UFC middleweights. Fortunately, Holland is aiming to make adjustments before he jumps into the octagon again. The No 10 UFC middleweight said that he will be joining former Olympian and former UFC two-division champion, Daniel Cormier to take notes on defensive wrestling.
Kevin Holland aims to make some adjustments following the loss to Marvin Vettori
Following his loss to Marvin Vettori, Kevin Holland detailed the changes he is going to make in his arsenal. Holland stated:
“Can’t say too much changes. We will see what it is. I honestly don’t know. I will go spend some time with DC for sure work on some wrestling things, go work on that wrestling of course. Learn how to stop some of these takedowns. Other than that same old same. I am not gonna change the fighter I am and try and become a wrestler just because all these guys wanna wrestle. I like to strike, I like to bang, I just do a better job at keeping the fight upon the feet. Then deliver some knockouts for the people and that way they will be back on the bandwagon sooner or later.”
Credit has to be given to Kevin Holland for accepting the fight against Marvin Vettori on such short notice. Besides that, there are some positives for Holland from this fight. Holland was definitely the better fighter tonight despite the loss. He also did better on the ground compared to the Brunson fight. Holland also showed great cardio and great defense on the ground against someone as good as Marvin Vettori.
Kamaru Usman criticizes Kevin Holland’s corner following the loss to Marvin Vettori
However, Kevin Holland needs to learn how to defend those takedowns, and training at AKA with the likes of Daniel Cormier will certainly help him develop those skills.
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