“Getting humped by these huge a** guys at 185”, Kevin Holland leaves the middleweight division with a bad taste

Kevin Holland has changed his division from middleweight to welterweight and that came as a surprise to many! Though it was a shocker, Holland has his reasons and they are justified too. Holland, who is a former middleweight contender has made it his aim to reduce his weight and take it from 185 lbs to 170 lbs.

The decision to do so comes from his inability to adjust to his weight gain to stay in the middleweight category. Also, his opponents were a bit too much for him. Holland has fought in the 170-pound division before moving to the middleweight UFC division. He had an impressive track record but had bad luck at the beginning of the year when he faced consecutive defeats at the hands of Derek Brunson and Marvin Vettori.

“I had that time off after the two losses back-to-back and I bought a bunch of weights and stuff like that, “I got a bad ass weight set for the house. Doing a bunch of lifting. Every time I’d go out of town, I’d book a hotel with the best lifting spots. I’d lift and I was getting into the lifting lifestyle. I’m going to be like Jon Jones, you know what I mean? Big!” explained Holland to MMA Fighting.

It was easy going after his entry to the middleweight division three years ago, but as he kept progressing through the fights, he started feeling the pressure coming on and also the difference between him and the fighters on the top. After his defeat to Thiago Santos, he went on a winning streak until it was broken after his losses against Vettori and Brunson.

“It never really made a difference but when you get to the top 10, top 15, those guys just know how to use their weight a little better,” Holland said. “They like to make love inside the octagon. So you have to watch those types of things.”

Kevin Holland positive that change of division will help him get his mojo back

Holland is very confident in his defensive stance and is very sure that his experience in the middleweight division will help in his welterweight division fights. With a bit more practice, he will be on a rampage with his deadly precision strikes.

“Make no mistake about it, I’m getting humped by these huge ass guys at 185,” Holland admitted. “They’re not doing no damage, they’re just laying on top of me. I go down 170 pounds, if I can get up from these guys who are pretty good wrestlers at 85, I know for sure what I can do at 170.”

Holland already has his eyes on a special contender in the welterweight division. He shares his thoughts further, “I’m looking at the guys in the top 15 and I like every single one of them, D-Rod (Daniel Rodriguez) is a very, very fun fight coming down. Very, very fun fight. I’ve got a lot of respect for the way D-Rod fights. I’ve got a lot of respect for the way D-Rod gets down on a day-to-day basis. It’s a fun fight and a fun fight is a fun fight.”

Even though he has moved to a lower weight division, he won’t hesitate for a second to move back to the middleweight division once he gets the opportunity or when his services are needed. “I still don’t mind fighting the big boys!“

Who are Kevin Holland’s ideal opponents in the welterweight division? Find out in the below video:

Also read- “I’m taking my talents there,” Is Kevin Holland moving to another weight class in 2022?

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