Kurt Holobaugh says he’s no longer just satisfied to be fighting in the UFC after winning TUF

Kurt Holobaugh is in his third stint with the UFC and he now has the tools to be a ranked lightweight.

Holobaugh made his UFC debut in 2013 but after losing his first Octagon appearance, he was released. He worked his way back to the promotion, but after going 0-3 he was released from the promotion once again.

Kurt Holobaugh ended up going on TUF and won the show after he submitted Austin Hubbard. After the win in August, the plan was to fight again later that year but unfortunately that didn’t come to fruition.

“I had some plans after winning the final in August. I wanted to fight on that Dec. 16 card, but I was expecting to have something in January or February. Then January passed and I called my manager and he said nothing yet. Finally, I got a call to fight Trey Ogden on March 23 at the Apex in Vegas,” Holobaugh said on Just Scrap Radio on BJPENN.com.

Once Kurt Holobaugh got the call to fight Trey Ogden, he admits he wasn’t too familiar with him, but he says Ogden doesn’t bring anything to the table that he hasn’t seen before.

“Not super familiar with him but I do remember watching him a couple of times. I’m familiar with a lot of guys on his team, or former team when Krause was running things in Kansas City. My first Titan fight was against a guy out of that gym. All those guys have similar styles, good jiu-jitsu, good wrestling, and okay striking. It’s not anything I haven’t seen before,” Holobaugh said.

Ultimately, Holobaugh believes he can keep the fight standing and get the win to prove he belongs in the UFC.

“He’s gonna wrestle, he’s gonna shoot takedowns but that’s fine, we are both jiu-jitsu guys, we are both comfortable wrestling and grappling, but you never know. A fight is a fight, you never know how it will play out. When the cage door locks I’m going to do everything I can to win,” Holobaugh said.

If Holobaugh does get the win, the hope is to make a quick turnaround and start working his way up the lightweight ranks.

“It raises my stock a little bit because I’ve done nothing but fight the toughest guys in the UFC. All the guys I fought in the UFC got ranked or were top contenders. My goal now is to not be satisfied just fighting in the UFC, it’s to climb the rankings and have a number by my name and one day fight for the world title,” Holobaugh said.