A pair of UFC fighters reportedly got into an altercation at Friday’s XKO 60 in Dallas, Texas, and one of the pair is now speaking out.
Joseph Holmes took to social media on Friday night to allege that Kevin Holland — who was just announced as part of the UFC 287 card this April — and members of his entourage “jumped” him in a stairwell at The Statler in Dallas.
A clearly emotional Holmes, better known as Ugly Man Joe, posted his video response to the incident, a short time after it occurred.
“I just got freakin’ jumped! I can’t think of the last time I got jumped. And where my people at? None of ya’ll around me making me up. None ya!” Holmes began, addressing his followers. “They beat me up, they beat me down, they stomped on me while I was down. F*ck Kevin Holland, bro, f*ck that guy. F*ck that guy.”
Holmes later broke down exactly what transpired. “What’s the beef, bro? The beef is nothing. I’m walking through — okay, peep this. I’m walking through, because we were just at XKO, at the Statler downtown [Dallas]. I’m walking through the venue, okay? Me and Kevin already don’t get along. Kevin Holland. So I’m walking through the venue, he ends up being in front of me, I make quick eye contact, continue on my way, don’t say a word, don’t touch him, don’t look at him, nothing.”
“So then literally less than 10 minutes later, me and my girl were about to leave, for a quick second I’m like ‘hey shoot I just left my clothes upstairs,’ because I changed clothes,” Holmes continued. “I go back to run upstairs where my fighter was, to grab my clothes that I left, and I see Kevin Holland coming down the stairs. I’m walking up the stairs, he’s coming down the stairs, he literally stops in front of me, looking at me. And he’s like, he looks at me and then reaches his hands out like he’s stopping me from walking upstairs, and he grabs on my f*cking arm. So what do I do? I’m like ‘naw n*gga, get your hands off of me.’ And I do like ‘pop, pop,’ [pushing motion] and I back him up. Like ‘hell naw, you ain’t about to be grabbing on me!’ And then this n*gga, ‘pop pop pop!'”
That’s when, according to Holmes, Holland’s crew got involved, attacking him from behind.
“And next thing I know, I’m getting punched in the back of my f*cking head. And I’m sitting there like ‘what the f*ck?’ Next thing you know, my glasses get tossed across the room, my earphones get tossed off me. I’m just standing here confused, like ‘what the f*ck did I do? I’m just trying to walk up some goddamn stairs.’ Next thing I know Kevin’s standing in front of me, his boys are looking all tough like ‘oh, oh,’ because they just punched me in the back of my head.”
At that point, Holmes says Holland told his crew to back off, while adding that security arrived — only to tell him to calm down. “What the f*ck do you mean ‘calm down?’ I just got jumped in front of you, and all you have to say is for me to calm down? Bitch-ass n*gga, do your job! Go over there and take somebody to jail, put somebody in some goddamn handcuffs or something. I just got jumped, and you have me standing right next to the people that just jumped me, telling me to ‘calm down?’ You’re goddamn lucky that I would not fight somebody for free. My life has to be in danger for me to feel like I need to attack somebody with force. But was happened tonight is beyond that. I got attacked for no reason.”
Holmes added that security surrounded him after the incident, and stated that he chose to be the bigger man. “I looked at Kevin and I was like ‘sign the contract when it comes. We’re going to send you a contract, sign it when it gets there.’ Because you’re acting all big and bad and tough, meanwhile your boyfriends were just hitting me in the back of the head, for what? Make sure you sign the f*cking contract. Yeah bro, it’s just ridiculous, dude. Over some long-ass beef that’s long ago. I dated his uncle’s ex-girlfriend, and that’s some beef that now I deserve to get hit in the back of the head over? Like bro, get your bitch-ass on bro. You’re a p*ssy. I told him that sh*t to his face, and I would tell him over and over again, bro, dude’s a f*cking p*ssy.”
Holmes suggested there could be video footage of the altercation forthcoming.
With Holland signed on to face Santiago Ponzinibbio in April, it’s doubtful he’ll be signing any bout agreement with Holmes in the near future. For his part, Joseph Holmes is 1-2 in the UFC, most recently suffering a submission loss against Jun Yong Park in October.
Holland, meanwhile, was involved in a different confrontation at UFC 279 this past September, as he found himself going at it with Khamzat Chimaev backstage at the event’s pre-fight press conference, which was cut short as a result.
