Darren Till is out of his fight with Marvin Vettori on April 10 and now Kevin Holland is looking to fill in on less than two week’s notice at UFC on ABC 2.
One the UFC’s most active fighters is doing what he does best in stepping in on short notice as Kevin Holland is looking to replace an injured Darren Till (broken collarbone) against Marvin Vettori on April 10. Ariel Helwani of ESPN was first to report the news, with Holland saying he had accepted the bout and Vettori verbally accepting any challenger willing to step in.
Kevin “The Trailblazer” Holland will be looking to continue his astounding run that would see him compete seven times in a twelve month span. Holland’s run saw him defeat the likes of Joaquin Buckley, Darren Stewart, and “Jacare” Souza in 2020 to tie a modern era record of five fights in a calendar year. He opened 2021 in March with a unanimous decision loss to Derek Brunson but going into the bout had expressed a desire to stay active regardless of the result. Notably, this would be the second time Holland has stepped in for Till as he agreed to replace the injured Englishman against Jack Hermansson. That bout fell apart at the last minute due to a positive test for covid for Holland days out from the bout.
I already accepted the fight an hour ago….. #callbigmouth https://t.co/xY7viueXZ2 pic.twitter.com/6ETxLKOF2f
— Kevin Holland (@Trailblaze2top) March 30, 2021
Marvin “The Italian Dream” Vettori is looking to continue his path back to a fight against current title holder Israel Adesanya as he tries to record his fifth straight victory. Since split-decision lose to Adesanya in 2018, Vettori has reeled off victories against Cezar Ferreira, Andrew Sanchez, and Karl Roberson. Last December, Vettori stepped in for Holland against Jack Hermansson on short notice and prevailed in an exciting five round battle. The fight with Till was widely considered to be a possible title eliminator as Adesanya has expressed interest in fighting Till and Vettori’s loss to the champion is further removed than other current top contenders in Robert Whittaker and Kelvin Gastelum.
The event is currently scheduled to take place at the UFC Apex in Las Vegas and will be the second event to air live on the ABC network in the United States.
