Kevin Holland gives shoulder injury update, wants Daniel Rodriguez fight rebooked

Kevin Holland didn’t fight at UFC on ESPN 9 last weekend.

A recurring shoulder injury, the same one which hindered him in his June 2019 victory over Alessio Di Chirico, flared up once again. Despite his willingness to compete, Holland’s team made him withdraw from his scheduled fight with Daniel Rodriguez in the days leading up to the fight.

“I did the therapy for (the injury in the Di Chirico fight), but it’s a shoulder that’s always gave me a problem,” Holland told MMA Junkie on Monday. “I got it looked at. They said I had some tears in there, I guess. To me, it just felt really inflamed. It just felt like it was hard to move. Ultimately, I wasn’t using it during the week, week-and-a-half of camp, you can say we had. My manager was catching a whiff of it, so they pulled the plug so I could get it officially looked at and stuff like that.”

Despite withdrawing just one week ago, Holland (17-5 MMA, 5-2 UFC) is already itching to return. He estimated his shoulder is at 25 percent, but indicated he doesn’t need it to return to 100 percent before returning to action. With rehab and acupuncture, Holland expects to be back in action in about six weeks.

“I’m not in a position to sit down,” Holland said. “My name is nowhere near where it needs to be, nor am I, in my career. I can adjust. I can move around it. It’s part of martial arts. You know what I mean? If somebody else feels it’s a handicap, while it’s officially their handicap. It’s like, no, I don’t stress about this shoulder. I’ve got other parts I can hit you with.”

“… I don’t care what anybody says. I want to fight again in six weeks. If the UFC books me a fight, I want to fight again in six weeks. If I can fool them in four weeks, I’ll fight in four weeks. … I got a little flame after the fight. I don’t what that flame to go down. I want it to go up.”

Rodriguez (12-1 MMA, 2-0 UFC) did fight last weekend, defeating late replacement and UFC newcomer Gabe Green by unanimous decision. Holland watched Rodriguez’s performance and hopes the UFC rebooks the matchup.

“Let’s talk about D-Rod winning his fight,” Holland said. “He had to take a last-second opponent on short notice. Hats off to him. I sent him a little message and he said, ‘Run it.’ It’s like, in six weeks, me and him have business, so let’s handle it.

“Yeah, I was impressed. He got the job done. A last-second change of opponent. He got the job done. He pumped the jab out there. It looked good. He chucked that left hand as hard as he could. He couldn’t put that guy away (and) and that was a 155-er if I’m not mistaken. I’m an 185-er. I’m going to eat that – good.”