Salt Lake City, UT – It’s not really his favorite style of opponent, but UFC welterweight Kevin Holland continues to test his grappling, and he’ll do it again when he faces off with Michael Chiesa at UFC 291 on Saturday night.
“I asked for this one. When (Li) Jingliang fell out, and I was fighting (Santiago) Ponzi I was feeling back comfortable with the wrestling. Remind you when I lost to (Derek) Brunson and Marvin (Vettori) I went and worked on it tremendously,” Holland told reporters including Cageside Press on Wednesday.
“I took a little bit of a break and then (Khamzat) Chimaev does me the way he does me I’m like ‘damn I shouldn’t have taken a break on wrestling’. Granted I was getting ready for DRod (Daniel Rodriguez.”
Taking the Chiesa fight, in many ways, is more about testing his wrestling inside the cage than anything. Holland is counting on Chiesa’s pace not being as high as someone like Chimaev or as strong as Brunson.
“I think Chiesa’s a good fight that’s why I asked for it. I get to work on my wrestling inside the cage, but at a slower pace. I get to do what I was supposed to do against Brunson, but I do it against Chiesa. He’s not as strong as Brunson at least I don’t think so,” he said.
“We’re going to grapple. I mean we’re going to grapple. Am I going to KO him? I mean absolutely, but I mean to think that he’s not going to grab me before I KO him I’d be f*cking ridiculous.”
Holland still left the possibility of something spectacular happening.
“Unless I have one of those f*cking Derrick Lewis-Curtis Blaydes moment,” Holland said.
“It’d be pretty cool.”
Watch the entire media day scrum with Kevin Holland above. He takes on Michael Chiesa at UFC 291 on Saturday night at the Delta Center.
