Kevin Holland has revealed he was offered the chance to fight Nick Diaz in his comeback fight before the UFC finalized the matchup with Vicente Luque.
Holland explained during a media day interview for UFC 302 that the UFC approached him with the Diaz fight, but the timing didn’t work for him:
“I was supposed to take a fight at 170 against a pretty big-name opponent. But they said he wasn’t going to be able to fight until August and I said, ‘Damn, that’s a long time.’ And they’re like, ‘Bro, it’s only an extra month.’ And I was like, ‘Nah, that’s too long,’ So I got this, and I’m happy with it. I guess that [othe] fight is not going to circle back because I see he just got booked, so let’s see what happens after.” [H/t: MMA Junkie]
Catch Kevin Holland’s appearance at UFC 302 media day below:
Holland will instead face Michal Oleksiejczuk on the upcoming UFC 302 card on June 1. Nick Diaz will look to reignite his career against Luque on August 3 in Abu Dhabi.
Kevin Holland backs Islam Makhachev for future welterweight title
Kevin Holland declared Islam Makhachev a shoo-in for future welterweight champion status, even calling him a more dangerous threat than former lightweight king Khabib Nurmagomedov.
Holland heaped praise on Makhachev’s well-rounded skillset. Makhachev, currently dominating the lightweight division with 13 straight wins, recently secured back-to-back title defenses with a knockout victory over Alexander Volkanovski.
Prior to his upcoming fight at UFC 302, Holland spoke to the media about Makhachev’s impressive skillset:
“[Makhachev would be] champ, for sure, for sure. I think Khabib [Nurmagomedov] could have did the same thing if he wanted to. So yeah, for sure…And I think Islam’s [Makhachev] probably a little bit more scarier to deal with…He knocked out ‘Volk’…I don’t think an easy person to put away…Scary, scary guy right there.”
Check out Kevin Holland’s comments below:
