Kevin Holland promises there’s no gimmick behind his retirement announcement because he’s actually done with fighting.
Fresh off a loss to Khamzat Chimaev at UFC 279, Holland dropped the news that he was calling it a career, although his announcement was immediately met with skepticism. Addressing the situation publicly outside of social media for the first time while launching his new podcast, Holland says he’s serious about retiring, especially after he earned a hefty payday following the short notice fight with Chimaev.
“So I’m retired. Holland stated that Holland is officially retired. Holland said, “I am officially retired from combat.” I had a good fight, good payday, I had a good run. Some of these people [saying] seem to realize that he won’t get the belt. I saw this online and it was clear from my little psychedelic journey, I was mistaken. I can’t be wrong on a psychedelic trip. I’ve lost coming out to Young Boy. This was my last hope. I never lost coming out to Young Boy. Your boy is going through tough times.
“But I’m really, really happy on the green side. Except for something really, super magical, no, I am happy the way things stand .”
Holland suffered a first-round submission loss to Chimaev after he was originally scheduled to face Daniel Rodriguez on the same card. The disappointment from that performance aside, the 29-year-old Contender Series veteran was still satisfied with the financial compensation he received and he added that there was no animosity towards Chimaev whatsoever after the fight was over.
“He placed me in a very positive place in my life,” Holland stated about Chimaev. “We love that guy. I’m actually thinking about getting a poster of that guy hung up in my bathroom.”
Now that he’s retired from MMA, Holland says he’s going to spend time on his new podcast while also looking at opening his own gym in the Fort Worth area in Texas.
Of course while Holland may be done with his MMA career, he might still look to settle another beef — namely responding to ex-UFC heavyweight Brendan Schaub, who claimed that the changes made to the fights at UFC 279 came down to pay-per-view sales rather than Chimaev missing weight for his scheduled bout against Nate Diaz.
Because Chimaev missed weight so dramatically — he weighed 7. 5 pounds over the welterweight limit for a non-title fight — the UFC shifted gears and put him in the fight against Holland while Diaz ended up facing Tony Ferguson in the main event.
Holland was not necessarily angry when Holland addressed Schaub. However, he suggested that they meet up for friendly sparring to resolve their differences.
“Brendan Schaub is always saying strange things,” Holland stated. “He said something that I thought was weird and I thought it was Schaub’s page but I guess it’s his people. He said something that I thought was strange and I texted them asking “What’s the deal?” They replied saying this wasn’t Schaub, and I felt dumb.
” We need to do some boxing for the fly stuff that he said. There is no MMA. He might take me down and I don’t have time for that s***. This is why I quit wrestling. I think he’s down [to box]. He isn’t a **** except he’s an ****, then he would not be down. Boxing is not important in this situation .”
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