Kevin Holland issues statement following UFC 279 loss to Khamzat Chimaev: “I lost an amazing grappling match”

Kevin Holland has spoken out following his UFC 279 loss to Khamzat Chimaev.

Holland was expected to share the Octagon with Daniel Rodriguez. Things shifted when Chimaev failed to make weight for his scheduled bout with Nate Diaz. Ultimately, Diaz took on Tony Ferguson, while Holland went one-on-one with Chimaev. Holland was quickly taken down and submitted.

After the fight, Holland took to his Instagram account to address the loss. He also turned his attention to two other welterweights.

“Yo, guys. I lost an amazing grappling match last night, I mean fight,” Holland said. “My bad, Chimaev is one hell of an athlete. Still gonna be talking sh*t cause you know who I am. I hate ending the year like this, so I would love to go in there against a striker. I don’t know if I’m still deserving of a ‘Wonderboy’ fight, I would love a ‘Wonderboy’ fight, but if not a ‘Wonderboy’ fight, D-Rod, we were all the way on task to getting it done. We had to switch it up to save the card, so maybe we can get something nice and get it going and collect another check before the end of the year.”

While Holland was defeated by Chimaev in short order, he continues to curry favor with the UFC. It wouldn’t come as a surprise if Holland got his wish of fighting Stephen Thompson or Rodriguez next given that he stepped up to fight Chimaev on short notice.

With the loss to Chimaev, Holland’s pro MMA record falls to 23-8, 1 NC. He is 10-5, 1 NC under the UFC banner. Holland was hoping to build a streak as he had scored two straight victories before the Chimaev meeting.