Daniel Cormier thinks the UFC has rewarded Kevin Holland for accepting to fight Khamzat Chimaev on short notice.
When Chimaev came in 7.5 pounds over the welterweight limit for his UFC 279 fight against Nate Diaz, the card was shuffled, and it was Holland (23-8 MMA, 10-5 UFC) who was called up to fight the unbeaten star in a 180-pound catchweight bout.
Chimaev ran through Holland in one round, which deflated “Big Mouth” and led to a surprising retirement announcement. However, that was short-lived as Holland got his wish of tangling with an elite striker when he was matched up with Stephen Thompson (16-6-1 MMA, 11-6-1 UFC) to headline UFC Fight Night on Dec. 3 at Amway Center in Orlando, Fla.
“On the other side, custom suits and craft services is much nicer than tackling and concussion or whatever else you may receive playing football or fighting,” Cormier said on his “DC & RC” ESPN show. “So I think you’ve got to be very careful with using the word retirement, but I believe honestly that this fight with ‘Wonderboy’ is payback. This is, ‘Here you go, Kevin Holland. You fought Khamzat Chimaev under the circumstances that you did, so here you go, an aging guy with a big name, in a main event, for you to hopefully regain some of the goodwill you had gotten since going down to 170.’”
Thompson was also hoping to draw a striker for his next bout. “Wonderboy” has been heavily out-grappled in his past two bouts against Belal Muhammad and Gilbert Burns and even admitted to turning down Shavkat Rakhmonov due to the stylistic matchup.