Kevin Holland considering move down to 170lbs following loss to Derek Brunson at UFC Vegas 22

UFC middleweight Kevin Holland says he is considering a move down to 170lbs following his loss to Derek Brunson at UFC Vegas 22.

Holland was taken down at will for nearly the entire 25 minutes by Brunson on his way to a unanimous decision loss. Though it seemed that Holland didn’t take the fight seriously, you also have to give a ton of credit to Brunson for sticking to his gameplan. He was able to expose Holland’s poor takedown defense as he continually took him down at will and beat him with his grinding wrestling style. It was the kind of lopsided win for Brunson that now has Holland contemplating a chance of weight classes considering how he was held down.

Speaking to the media following, UFC Vegas 22, Holland said that he is considering making the move down to 170lbs after seeing his five-fight win streak snapped by Brunson.

Holland says he'd like to get with a nutritionist and try 170, which is kind of interesting.

— Brett Okamoto (@bokamotoESPN) March 21, 2021

Holland says he’d like to get with a nutritionist and try 170, which is kind of interesting.

Holland has mentioned in the past that he would be interested in moving down to welterweight, but so far he has stayed at middleweight during his UFC run. At the official weigh-ins on Friday, Holland stepped onto the scale at 183lbs, which was two pounds under the 185lbs middleweight title limit, and three pounds under the non-title limit. It seems that he could cut the extra 12 pounds to get down to the non-title welterweight limit of 171lbs if he really tried to do it, and hiring a nutritionist to help get him there is a start. It’s worth noting that Holland fought at 170lbs on the regional scene as recently as 2017.

The biggest problem, however, is that Holland’s loss to Brunson came because of poor takedown defense, and at 170lbs, many of the division’s top fighters are primarily wrestlers. It seems like before a weight change is necessary that Holland should really focus on staying off of his back, which makes it difficult to win against dominant wrestlers such as Brunson, and fighter at 170lbs such as Kamaru Usman and Colby Covington.

Do you want to see Kevin Holland move down to welterweight after losing to Derek Brunson?