UFC 302’s Kevin Holland Was Supposed to Fight MMA Legend Next: ‘I Was Gonna Smoke Him'

There are no easy fights in the UFC.

Just ask Kevin Holland, a Texas-native with a wealth of experience against some of MMA's biggest names such as Khamzat Chimaev, Stephen "Wonderboy" Thompson and Michael "Venom" Page, whoHolland welcomed to the promotion's welterweight division at UFC 299.

After dropping a few spots in the rankings with a decision-loss to the debuting Page, Holland later fielded an interesting fight offer from the UFC that left "Trailblazer" at a career crossroads.

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"I was supposed to be taking a fight at 170 against a pretty big name opponent, but they say he wasn't able to fight till August," Holland said at UFC 302 media day. "So I was like, 'Damn, that's a long time.' They're like, 'Bro, it's only an extra month.' And I'm like, 'No, it's too long.'"

Holland revealed the UFC had pitched him a welterweight fight with former Strikeforce Champion and UFC title challenger Nick Diaz for later this summer. It seems that the plan was for Holland to face Diaz at UFC Abu Dhabi on August 3, but after growing impatient, Holland took a fight with Michał Oleksiejczuk instead.

The two fighters meet at middleweight this weekend at UFC 302.

"I got this [next fight], I'm happy with it. I guess that fight's not gonna circle back, cause I see he just got booked, so we'll see what happens after," Holland said of Diaz's new booking against Vicente Luque.

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A former welterweight title challenger, Diaz is still fighting ranked contenders to this very day. A step down in competition or a "tune-up" fight wouldn't be the worst idea in the world for the soon to be 41 year-old Diaz, but that doesn't seem to be in the cards based on his latest booking against Luque.

"No, I knew he was coming back to fight," Holland said, when asked if he was surprised with Diaz's return. "I just thought I was gonna smoke him, and then I was gonna smoke Luque, too. But those two are fighting each other, so they can smoke each other. Two big ass joints."

With cannabis being illegal in Abu Dhabi (and the fact it's halfway across the world for the American), Kevin Holland said he probably wasn't going to make the trip overseas for a legacy fight with Nick Diaz anyways.

Fans can look forward to seeing Diaz enter the Octagon for the first time since 2021 when he meets Luque on August 3, and this Saturday night Holland will attempt to snap a two-fight skid when he takes on Oleksiejczuk on the main card of UFC 302 in Newark, NJ.

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CHRISTOPHER DE SANTIAGO

Christopher De Santiago is a 22 year-old journalist from Gainesville, Texas with years of experience covering MMA.

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