UFC: Kevin Holland says Israel Adesanya ‘dared to be great, now he knows he’s not’
- Middleweight contender goads ‘The Last Stylebender’ after defeat by light heavyweight champ Blachowicz
- ‘All that conversation we had about being on top of the mountain, I guess he’s not on top … Keep climbing, bucko,’ Holland says
UFC middleweight contender Kevin Holland wasn’t impress with Israel Adesanya’s performance against Jan Blachowicz, to say the least,
“The Last Stylebender” aimed to become just the fifth simultaneous dual division champion in UFC history, but suffered a unanimous decision defeat against light heavyweight king Blachowicz. The Polish 38-year-old utilised his significant weight advantage and his wrestling in the championship rounds at UFC 259 this month, particularly in the fifth, where he earned 10-8 scores from two of the judges.
But No 10-ranked Holland thought Blachowicz outclassed the 185-pound champ on the feet too.
“Striker got out-struck,” Holland, who fights Derek Brunson at UFC Vegas 22 this Saturday night, told SCMP MMA. “Everybody’s talking about, ‘take him down, that’s the way to go’. No – put your hands it his face, put your legs up against his shins, and make it a fight.
“I’ve seen that. He’s a great fighter, but when the fighting gets to fighting, he’s just a fighter. It was a good, good fight. He ‘dared to be great’, and now he knows he’s not great.