Kevin Holland of the United States celebrates after defeating Anthony Hernandez of the United States in their Middleweight bout during UFC Fight Night at VyStar Veterans Memorial Arena on May 16, 2020 in Jacksonville, Florida. (Photo by Douglas P. DeFelice/Getty Images)
Israel Adesanya failed in his attempt to defeat Jan Blachowicz and Kevin Holland seemed to enjoy it
Kevin Holland took a few shots at Israel Adesanya after the Last Stylebender lost to Jan Blachowicz at UFC 259.
Adesanya was keen on becoming a double champion as he held the Middleweight title. However, Blachowicz won the fight thanks to his size and retained the Light Heavyweight crown.
This was Blachowicz’s first title defence and he had some great words for Adesanya. The Last Stylebender, for his part, was magnanimous in defeat and congratulated the champion.
Adesanya also claimed that he would be going back to his Middleweight division but didn’t rule out a return to the Light Heavyweight one.
While many lauded Adesanya for his attempts at getting a second belt, Holland seemed to enjoy the loss.
The rising Middleweight star went 5-0 in 2020 and has called out Adesanya in the past. While Izzy has hit back at Holland, Trail Blazer shot at the Kiwi star in an interview with SCMP MMA:
“Striker got out-struck.
“You know, he’s gonna talk about take him down, that’s the way to go, no. Put your punch, put your hands in his face, you know, put your legs up against his shins and you know, make it a fight.
“I have seen that he’s a great fighter but when the fighting gets to the fighting, he’s just a fighter.”
Holland did praise Adesanya for attempting to get that second belt but added that Izzy still needed to work up.
“It was a good, good fight. He dared to be great and now he knows he is not great.
“All that conversation we had about being at the top of the mountain, keep f****** climbing bucko. Keep climbing.”
Holland played down the attempts of others to hype him up. However, he is fighting Derek Brunson at the weekend and believes he will pick up an easy win.
The #10 ranked Middleweight would certainly move up in the rankings with a win and move closer to a title shot.
Holland claimed that moving right to the top would take some time for him but if he keeps on winning, nothing can stop him from picking up UFC gold.
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