Kicking off the PPV main card at UFC 311 this past Saturday was a very intriguing matchup in the middleweight division between two guys trying to crack the top fifteen. One of the more charismatic fighters in the promotion in Kevin Holland (26-13, 1 NC) was taking on former two-division ONE champion Reinier De Ridder (19-2).
Kevin Holland entered the octagon on Saturday night really motivated to get back in the win column. After a welterweight stint, he returned to middleweight last summer and scored a first round submission win. He then faced Roman Dolidze in October and suffered an injury which cost him the fight. He wanted to move to 2-1 since moving back up and he wanted to avoid a second straight loss.
Holland had a massive striking advantage on paper entering this fight. However, the problem for Holland at middleweight has always been being controlled by bigger grapplers. Well, that happened again. De Ridder was able to secure a takedown and while Holland did threaten with submissions, he never locked in anything. RDR eventually secured a rear naked choke handing Holland his second straight loss at UFC 311.
What’s next after UFC 311?
It’s been a weird run for Kevin Holland inside the octagon. After going 5-0 in 2020 to get himself into serious contention, he went 0-2, 1 NC in his next three fights which forced him to move to welterweight. He started really strong at welterweight and went 4-1 in true matchups at 170. However, losses to Jack Della Maddalena and Michael “Venom” Page forced him to move back up to middleweight.
Now, the popular UFC fighter has lost two in a row once again. So, what should be next for him. Well, if you asking me there is a perfect opponent for Kevin Holland and it was the opponent he was supposed to face in October. Before Roman Dolidze stepped in, Holland was supposed to face Chris Curtis.
Curtis is coming off a TKO loss to Roman Kopylov a couple of weeks ago. Like Holland, Curtis has lost two in a row. Sometimes match making is easy and I think this one is pretty straight forward.