LOS ANGELES – Kevin Holland plans to outdo himself in 2025.
Ahead of UFC 311, the promotion’s first pay-per-view event of the year and on which he’s competing, Holland (26-12 MMA, 13-9 UFC) expects to have a very active year. One of the promotion’s most frequent fighters, Holland wants to break the personal record he set in 2020 of five fights. He won all of those.
“Ideal would be six times,” Holland told MMA Junkie and other reporters at a pre-fight news conference Wednesday. “In 2020, we all know I didn’t have that many months to work and I still got a lot done that year. This year, I’m starting off really, really early with it being January, and I’ve got plenty of time to work. So I think six would be easy. Realistically, I could probably do six or seven and make sure nobody ever catches up again.”
UFC 311 (pay-per-view, ESPNews/Disney+, ESPN+) takes place Saturday at Intuit Dome in Inglewood, Calif. Holland takes on former ONE champion Reinier de Ridder (18-2 MMA, 1-0 UFC) in a welterweight bout that serves as the main card opener.
“I know he had a pretty decent career over at ONE,” Holland said. “I know he lost all that before he came over here. Just keep them moving.”
De Ridder made his promotional debut in November when he submitted divisional staple Gerald Meerschaert. Despite that result, Holland is a black-belt himself and said he isn’t overly concerned about getting submitted.
“Ultimately, I just see him starting to fade and just giving me the ‘dub,’” Holland said. “That’s just kind of how I picture it. When he lost his belt in the last organization, he kind of just faded and gave the belt away. Maybe that’s what he does: fades and gives it away. … I probably grappled less getting ready for this guy. If he subs me, that’d be f*cking crazy. I don’t think he does anything that great on the ground.
“Him in the Gerald Meerschaert fight was fun. Gerald is a tough person to fight. I’ve been there before, done that before. That being said, Meerschaert just made a slight mistake. If Meerschaert had not made that mistake, I think in Round 3 Meerschaert would’ve won that fight. The guy was ready to quit.”
For more on the card, visit MMA Junkie’s event hub for UFC 311.
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