Kevin Holland entered Saturday's UFC Fight Night main event, not showing much respect towards Derek Brunson. The charismatic Holland felt like Brunson would be an easy win for him and went as far as to label his opponent a "gatekeeper."
Brunson let Holland know that he's got ways to go as the former dominated to win a lopsided decision (49-45, 49-46, 49-46) at the UFC Apex in Las Vegas. DAZN News scored the fight 50-45 for Brunson.
From the opening round, Brunson made it clear what the gameplan would be as Holland slipped, and the North Carolina native controlled the action on the mat.
Holland had his best moments of the fight in the second when he started blasting Brunson with right hands. He sent Brunson down with a stinging right hand but couldn't capitalize as Brunson regained his composure and took Holland right back down to his turf.
Any time Holland got the slightest bit comfortable on the feet, Brunson went back to his bread and butter and put Holland on his back. Instead of trying to get up and attempt to make a comeback, Holland was content on smiling and trash-talking Brunson. When Holland would make it back to his feet, he was content on slapping Brunson's ears, talking and staring at the fight clock.
"I was busy trying to punch him in the face in between him talking. I really couldn't pick up too much," Brunson said in his post-fight interview. "I just really wanted to punch him in the mouth while he was talking."
The win is Brunson's fourth in a row. Brunson (22-7) made it clear that he doesn't want to fight someone lower than him in the UFC rankings for his next bout. He says he's ready for the upper echelon at 185 pounds.
"I wasn't too excited about this matchup. I wanted a top-5," Brunson exclaimed. "They probably didn't like my performance too much, so give me a top-5. Let's see what happens."
Here's how UFC Fight Night: Derek Brunson vs. Kevin Holland went.