Chael Sonnen was wowed by Kevin Holland's inventive fight move at UFC 256
Chael Sonnen has revealed that he was wowed by Kevin Holland inventing a fight move at UFC 256. Addressing Kevin Holland’s amazing victory over Ronaldo ‘Jacare’ Souza at UFC 256, Chael Sonnen expounded upon Holland’s brilliance in the fight.
Kevin Holland pulled off a rare KO at UFC 256
Kevin Holland is a great striker and for long has been capable of separating his opponents from their consciousness with his incredible KO power.
However, he suffered a submission loss to fellow UFC middleweight contender Brendan Allen in October 2019. Kevin Holland has competed in five MMA bouts after that loss. All five of the bouts have taken place in the 2020 calendar year.
Holland has emerged victorious in each one of his five Octagon appearances this year. His most recent win came via first-round KO against highly respected veteran fighter Jacare Souza.
Jacare is considered to be one of the best BJJ practitioners to have ever competed in the sport of MMA. He successfully took Kevin Holland down to the mat. While many expected the fight to end via submission, Holland pulled off a rare KO.
Holland did something that’s extremely hard to pull off by knocking his opponent out from the bottom position while he was on top. The Trailblazer landed a few more follow-up strikes on Jacare, who was out cold due to the vicious attack.
Chael Sonnen calls Kevin Holland ‘charismatic’; amazed by Holland inventing new move
On an episode of Beyond The Fight posted on Chael Sonnen’s official YouTube channel, Sonnen noted that he disagrees with certain people calling Kevin Holland by the latter’s nickname ‘Big Mouth’.
Holland usually goes by the moniker ‘Trailblazer’, but is also sometimes referred to as ‘Big Mouth’. This is because UFC President Dana White once lightheartedly called him the latter nickname.
Chael Sonnen emphasized that the reason he won’t call Kevin Holland ‘Big Mouth’ is because Holland’s trash talking is entertaining and playful, rather than disrespectful or mean.
The American Gangster added that Holland is a very charismatic individual. He noted that the young fighter even managed to get his UFC 256 opponent Jacare Souza to dance before their fighter introductions inside the Octagon.
Additionally, Chael Sonnen said that he’d have liked to see Holland perform with fans in attendance at the arena. Sonnen believes that Holland can really connect with the fans, alluding that the middleweight KO artist could turn into a huge star in the years to come.
Furthermore, Chael Sonnen credited Kevin Holland for being innovative and creating a new move to KO Jacare Souza at UFC 256. Sonnen noted how Jacare secured a takedown, Holland got back up, but then Jacare once again hit a takedown and kept Holland on the ground.
Chael Sonnen continued that Holland proved he wasn’t scared to grapple with the best by throwing up triangle and armbar submission attempts at Jacare. He added that Kevin Holland couldn’t pull off the submission, but then Holland started talking trash to Jacare Souza.
Addressing this, Chael Sonnen recalled that Holland – from the bottom position whilst sitting in a certain angle – then hit Jacare with a strike. Sonnen noted that Holland placed the strike perfectly on the top of Jacare’s head.
Kevin Holland followed up with more strikes to the head of Jacare and knocked him out cold. Sonnen credited Holland for his innovation and opined that no coach in the world can teach you to pull off something like this.
Chael Sonnen pointed out that even the highly experienced UFC commentary team couldn’t explain what the move was.
“Holland is down. He’s on his back. Jacare creates a little space, Holland says something to him and then sits up and cracks him. Now you have to understand this because this is creativity at its finest points. There is no coach in the world, in any MMA gym to ever exist that brings the team in one day and says, ‘Okay, guys, I want you to sit on your b**t and wait for the top guy to create space. Then I want you to say something to him and then crack him right here. You’ll knock him out…He (Kevin Holland) made it up.
“I don’t know what to call it. That’s not a move. Kevin Holland made that up. When you have guys that can make things – they can see it and then do it in live action – it’s rare, and it’s scary, and it’s impressive. And it’s something to celebrate.” (*H/T Sportskeeda for the transcription)
What are your views on Chael Sonnen’s statements regarding Kevin Holland? Sound off in the comments.