AUSTIN, Texas – Kevin Holland gets to fight “an OG” of MMA and someone he respects in Tim Means on Saturday at UFC on ESPN 37, and he’s loving it.
Holland (22-7 MMA, 9-4 UFC) will enter the cage at Moody Center looking for his second consecutive win when he meets Means (32-12-1 MMA, 14-9 UFC), who is on a three-fight winning streak. Fighting someone who has almost 50 career professional fights, it’s done some good for Holland.
“It’s Tim Means. You’ve got to mean business when you’re in the cage with Tim Means,” Holland said Wednesday during UFC on ESPN 37 media day. “… It gave me a reason to be more technical the whole camp, just keep the technique really, really smart. Still be the best athlete that I can be, but keep it real technical and smart. When you’re with an OG like that, you’re with a guy with that many fights, they got a tendency to make you do things that they want to make you do. They have a tendency to do things that’s just different. They bring that fight in a whole different aspect.”
Means’ current winning streak consists of three unanimous decisions, which is why Holland expects to have to be technical. That being said, he’s prepared himself for any type of fight.
“If Tim looks to have a war, he gets clipped, and he gets knocked out,” Holland said. “I hate to be like that, but that’s how it is. If Tim looks to be technical and looks to be smart, he gets outpointed and out-classed. If Tim looks to wrestle, well f*ck, I’ve been working on the wrestling for over a year now. And I believe that (if) I work on anything for over a year, it’s a f*cking problem.”
Anyone who’s watched a Holland fight knows that he likes to talk while he’s in the octagon. Means recently told MMA Junkie Radio that Holland talking would be a good sign that he’s off his game.
Holland’s not so sure about that, though, and said it should be the least of Means’ concerns.
“I don’t really care, me personally,” Holland said. “If he wants to talk, we can talk. If he doesn’t want to talk, he wants to shut up, and we fight for 15 minutes, we can do that too. It doesn’t matter, either way. …
“I don’t have to talk at all during a fight to still have a big mouth and a meme moment. I just throw two thumbs up and go viral, so I don’t really care. Tim needs to worry about one thing and one thing only: Who’s going to be the better man that night? F*ck who’s talking, f*ck who’s doing this, f*ck who’s doing that. Who’s going to be the better man that night? That’s all Tim needs to worry about.”
You can watch Holland’s full media day interview in the video above.
‘F*ck who’s talking,’ Kevin Holland means business heading into UFC on ESPN 37
