‘Everybody wanted big mouth until big mouth failed’
Holland looks to bounce back against Vettori on Saturday
Kevin Holland’s brash personality and habit of talking throughout his fights combined with an impressive winning streak in 2020 to make him a fan favorite and media darling. Then he lost.
The 28-year-old quickly found out the traits people loved so much when he was winning were the ones that drew the most criticism when he wasn’t.
“Everybody wanted big mouth until big mouth failed. Now they don’t want big mouth anymore,” Holland said of his reaction to a March 20 loss by unanimous decision to Derek Brunson.
Holland will look to bounce back when he meets middleweight Marvin Vettori in the main event of Saturday afternoon’s UFC on ABC 2 card at the Apex.
The bout headlines a main card on ABC at noon that also features a women’s strawweight bout between Mackenzie Dern and Nina Nunes, the wife of two-division champion Amanda Nunes who formerly competed as Nina Ansaroff.
The Holland-vettori clash will be the quickest turnaround between two main event fights in UFC history as Holland hopes to wipe away the memory of what happened.
Holland was taken down repeatedly in that fight, though true to form, he was incessantly talking while on his back to Brunson for long stretches and to lightweight champion Khabib Nurmagomedov, who was seated cageside and laughed at the monologue on several occasions.
The audience — and UFC president Dana White — was not as entertained.
“No regrets for talking to Khabib, no regrets for people being upset, no regrets for anything,” said Holland, who believes most of the people who were angry were just upset because they bet on him and lost.
The criticism from White, who said all the talking and laughing during a fight he was losing made it look as if Holland was having a “mental breakdown,” was not as easy to shake for Holland.
“Dana wasn’t happy and I can understand why,” Holland said. “He’s the boss and he was looking forward to me doing certain things to Brunson to bring better revenue. I don’t think Brunson brings any revenue to the game or the sport, so I can feel why he was upset. … I understand where (White) is coming from. He’s had things to say and best believe I have open ears.”