Kevin Holland was tasked with opening the UFC 311 pay-per-view (PPV) fight card last weekend in Los Angeles. It was a chance to showcase his skills against the red-hot Reinier De Ridder, who dreams of fighting one of these top contenders.
Holland was submitted by “The Dutch Knight” in less than four minutes.
“Been pretty trash lately, gotta clean sh*t up,” Holland wrote on Twitter.
The loss to De Ridder marked the second straight for Holland and his fourth defeat across his last five fights, prompting fans to call for a return to welterweight. Former UFC champion TJ Dillashaw suggests mindset — not middleweight — is to blame.
“He’s a very entertaining fighter, he talks a lot, but he will never be a champion, I promise you that,” Dillashaw said on Jaxxon Podcast. “It’s the truth, he’s got some holes in his game, and we see it here. Are you going to be a champion if you don’t care? No, you need to obsess about it every day of your life. You need to be OCD about training, about being the best and not losing one practice. He’s talking about bringing training partners in and going home and smoking. Just sitting here and listening to him talk and watching him on TV, he doesn’t have the mindset for it, he’s just happy to be on TV.”
Too much horsing around, I suppose.
The 32 year-old Holland stands at 26-13 (1 NC) and does not have a place among the Top 15 at 185 pounds. “Trailblazer” is a product of Dana White’s Contender Series (Season 2) and has remained one of the busiest fighters on the roster, despite his inconsistency.
As for Dillashaw, he retired from competition following a shoulder injury in 2022.
