UFC London adding Kevin Holland – Gunnar Nelson

The UFC is returning to London on March 22nd and we have learned of another fun matchup that’s being added to the card. “The Trailblazer” Kevin Holland (26-13) is staying true to his word in wanting to be active in 2025 as he will be taking on Gunnar Nelson (19-5-1). Krazy Kev MMA was the first to report the fight earlier this week.

The fight will be Nelson’s first fight in two years. The last time we saw Nelson was at UFC 286 which also took place in London. Nelson took on Bryan Barberena and submitted him in the first round.

It was Nelson’s second straight win. However, he’s been far from active. He always seems to make a comeback for the March London cards as his last two fights were in London in March 2022 and March 2023. Now, he’ll return again in London against Holland.

UFC London

I’m a little surprised by this announcement for Kevin Holland. I’m not surprised that he’s staying active, but I’m surprised that he’s fighting Gunnar Nelson and I’m also surprised he’s moving back down to welterweight. Personally, I think Holland’s best weight class is 170 given his size and length.

He should be able to have much more success at welterweight. In true welterweight fights, Holland went 4-3 in seven welterweight fights but he held his own with the very best. He barely lost a split decision to Jack Della Maddalena who will be fighting Leon Edwards in the main event of UFC London later that night.

However, Holland wanted a little more freedom and moved up to 185 but in his last two losses, he ran into the same problem he first did at 185. He struggles with bigger grapplers and when he fought Reinier de Ridder just a couple of weeks ago, he was taken down and submitted in the first round. Holland needs a big bounce back performance in this one.