Derek Brunson did it again.
Nearly nine months after derailing the Edmen Shahbazyan hype train, the veteran middleweight extended his winning streak to four fights over the weekend by taking out another rising contender in Kevin Holland.
Brunson (22-7) used his wrestling advantage to control Holland for the majority of their five-round main event Saturday at the UFC Apex facility in Las Vegas.
Holland (21-6) had his five-fight winning streak snapped. He had a brief moment in the second round where it looked like he had Brunson hurt, but the 28-year-old wasn’t able to get the finish.
Holland had been talking trash in the leadup to this matchup and continued jawing all throughout the fight even when being dominated by his opponent.
In between rounds he even sparked up a conversation with a cageside Khabib Nurmagomedov who was watching the event with UFC president Dana White.
* SOUND ON *
@Trailblaze2top is chatting with Khabib between rounds! #UFCVegas22 pic.twitter.com/DbwTtP8GhX— UFC (@ufc) March 21, 2021
Brunson was ranked as the No. 7 contender in the 185-pound division prior to his win over Holland
The 37-year-old said he wants a top-five opponent in his next outing and specifically called out former No. 1 contender Paulo Costa, who recently had to withdraw from a scheduled April 17 fight with Robert Whittaker.
A lightweight bout between Gregor Gillespie and Brad Riddell was scheduled to be the co-main event, however it was cancelled the day of the event due to COVID-19 protocols. A women’s bantamweight tilt between Julija Stoliarenko and Julia Avila was scrapped due to health concerns after Stoliarenko collapsed and fell off the scale during the weigh-ins the day prior to the event.
Here are the complete results from the event.
MAIN CARD
-- Derek Brunson def. Kevin Holland by unanimous decision
-- Max Griffin def. Song Kenan by technical knockout
-- Montserrat Ruiz def. Cheyanne Buys by unanimous decision
-- Adrian Yanez def. Gustavo Lopez by knockout
-- Tai Tuivasa def. Harry Hunsucker by technical knockout
PRELIMINARY CARD
-- Macy Chiasson def. Marion Reneau by unanimous decision
-- Grant Dawson def. Leonardo Santos by knockout
-- Trevin Giles def. Roman Dolidze by unanimous decision
-- Montel Jackson def. Jesse Strader by technical knockout
-- Bruno Gustavo da Silva def. JP Buys by technical knockout
