UFC 272: Kevin Holland Successful In Move To 170, Rodriguez Next

Las Vegas, NV – Fighters move up and down in weight classes trying to find the perfect fit. Sometimes they need to fight a stubborn personality to make the move happen, but when it does it can be like you finally arrived home.

For UFC welterweight Kevin Holland the move from 185 pounds to 170 was a successful one as he defeated Alex Oliveira via TKO in the second round of their main card bout at UFC 272 on Saturday night.

“My lungs felt good. I blew back up to 190 pounds. I felt good man I felt really, really good. Probably something I should have did a long time ago, but I’m stubborn, hard-headed. You know me I still like fighting guys at 85. I like the big guys. When they fall it sounds a lot bigger. When 70 guys fall it’s like (Holland hit the table with his hand softly). I’m like ‘Damn, did I drop him? Alright I’ve got to run over there.’,” Holland told the media in his post-fight scrum.

Holland (22-7) has been fighting at middleweight for his entire UFC career but after dropping bouts to Derek Brunson and Marvin Vettori he decided to make the move down to 170-pounds.

“I can fight way more frequent at 85 of course. At 70 I do need some weeks to make sure my body adjusts and did everything right. I do not want to have a bad weight cut ever. As long as I have Charles and I have Icon Meals I think i’ll be ok. Shout out to Charles from UFC PI he’s freaking amazing.”

Holland mentioned that when he stepped into the octagon on Saturday night he was 190 pounds. That’s a 20-pound difference from Friday to fight night. At middleweight however it was much closer to just a few pounds heavier.

“188, 192 (on fight night). So crazy bro I don’t understand it. Even when I win a fight at 85 I’m like, ‘You lucky bastard.’ It’s just one of those things where it’s like I always say I could be a better athlete, a more professional athlete. But back in the day when I used to cut to 70 I used to be so mean to my mom, I used to be so mean to my little brother, I used to be so mean to everybody around me when I used to cut weight. I didn’t want to be that person again.”

Following his win over Oliveira, when talking to Joe Rogan, Holland mentioned fighting “Another Cowboy” hinting at possibly calling out Donald Cerrone. He squashed that in his post-fight scrum.

“You know me I be just talking. I think other Cowboy and me should not fight to be honest with you. I think I should be fighting Daniel Rodriguez next. Just because last time I called out Cowboy, Daniel Rodriguez hopped in my inbox and was like ‘Yo don’t do that, that’s my OG. Respect to both of those guys. Of course I would like to fight the OG but sometimes you’ve got to take out the student before you take out the OG. If I take out the student I don’t even really feel like I’ve got to take out the OG,” Holland said.

“At the end of the day I’m a big Cowboy fan. It probably wouldn’t even make me feel as good as I think it would.”

Watch the full UFC 272 post-fight press scrum with L’udovit Klein above. More coverage from the event can be found below.