Israel Adesanya believes Kevin Holland will beat Derek Brunson easily but has to do more for a title shot
Israel Adesanya recently weighed in on Kevin Holland's upcoming fight against Derek Brunson at UFC Vegas 22. According to Adesanya, Holland might make easy work of Brunson, but he still has a long way to go before he is in the title picture. Talking about Holland vs Brunson, 'Stylebender' told Ariel Helwani from ESPN:
"I feel like (Kevin) Holland is going to take care of (Derek) Brunson. Brunson’s been a spoiler, like in his last fight with (Edmen) Shahbazyan. But Holland should take care of him quite easily. But he (Kevin Holland) still has a long way to go. He can’t just beat Brunson and think deserves a title shot."
Kevin Holland is coming off an impressive year of performances, winning all five of his bouts in 2020. Only the third UFC fighter to accomplish this feat, Holland was also bestowed the Fighter of the Year honors by MMA Junkie.
Meanwhile, Derek Brunson is on a three-fight win streak, which also includes a third-round TKO of rising prospect Edmen Shahbazyan.
Israel Adesanya takes motivation from criticism
According to Israel Adesanya, the lows in his career have only given him the impetus to better himself. He also spoke about the future of the middleweight division.
"(Darren) Till, if he wins, he gets a title shot. The Italian (Marvin Vettori)… hmmm… depends on how he wins. Then there’s that story, he still thinks he won the first fight. So stupid. I like it though, I love these trials man. Cause you know how petty I am. I mean you saw what happened after the (Yoel) Romero fight," said Israel Adesanya.
"When they were all like, 'Oh he’s so boring. Oh, he run away.' But now we know in hindsight, I was frozen. Call me Medusa. I froze the f**k. But yeah, I like these trials in my career when people like you to fall off. Cause we’re just you know ‘100 dollars on the number 10. ’ Little gas, that’s all we’re getting. Little gas and about to blast," added IsraAdesanya.