Kevin Holland says he will retire again if Khamzat Chimaev gets title shot against Alex Pereira next - "Favoritism is favoritism"
Kevin Holland took the MMA world by storm in September when he announced his retirement from the sport. 'Trailblazer' fought Khamzat Chimaev at UFC 279 in a last-minute change of opponents after 'Borz' missed weight.
Kevin Holland was submitted by Chimaev, and shortly afterwards announced his retirement. Many, including Dana White, did not initially take his claims seriously until he confirmed his decision via an Instagram post a month later.
But Holland will shortly thereafter reemerge from his hiatus, and is set to take on Stephen Thompson in the main event of this weekend's UFC card.
'Trailblazer' appeared in front of the media ahead of the fight and discussed his feelings about how favorably the UFC has treated some of their fighters. Holland went so far as to threaten to retire again should Chimaev be awarded a title shot against Alex Pereira:
"If I wake up on Sunday morning and you guys have Chimaev fighting for 185 lbs. world title and he's never won a fight at 185 against a top 15 fighter [then] I'm retired. I understand business is business but favoritism is favoritism. The kid missed weight, I had to step up to fight him after he missed weight and make the fight happen. I shouldn't of had to do that."
Watch the video below from 0:35:
Kevin Holland on what is next after his fight with Stephen Thompson
Kevin Holland will face Stephen Thompson in the main event of a stacked UFC Fight Night card this weekend. 'Trailblazer' is 2-1 in his last 3, but suffered a loss at the nads of the dominant Khamzat Chimaev in his previous bout.
With Holland moving from middleweight to welterweight, he is currently outside of the UFC's top 15 rankings. But a win over 'Wonderboy' could see 'Trailblazer' move into the top 6 of the 170 lbs. in his third fight at welterweight.
Whilst speaking to the media at today's pre-fight press conference, Kevin Holland expanded on what lay ahead for him after this weekend's main event. 'Trailblazer' said
"I used to like to plan a few things. But now I'm at the point where like, whatever comes, comes. If nothing comes then I'll sit at home, play Playstation and smoke weed."
With both fighters coming off of losses, there will be plenty of hunger from both Holland and Thompson to turn things around.