Kevin Holland vows to win for fans and critics ahead of Gunnar Nelson fight at UFC London

Kevin Holland has just taken to X/Twitter to assure both his supporters and detractors that he is determined to score a win this Saturday. He faces Brazilian jiu-jitsu specialist Gunnar Nelson at welterweight at UFC London. The matchup is the third-last on the card and a fairly high-profile one.

A tremendous wave of criticism has been directed at Holland following a string of poor performances. He has always been regarded as having potential, but his attitude toward fighting, whether it is his perceived tendency to lose focus and talk in the cage or not take losses seriously, has always irked the MMA fandom.

Now, though, Holland is promising to beat Nelson. He wrote in an X post:

"For the ones that support, much love. To the ones that hate, it's still much love this way, but I owe all of you a W and plan on delivering"

Nelson is no different, from a stylistic standpoint, from the opponents Holland usually struggles with. Fighters with exceptional grappling and submission skills tend to trouble him, especially if compounded with strong takedowns. He most recently lost to Reinier de Ridder, who was making his UFC debut.

In just three minutes, de Ridder took Holland down and submitted him with a rear-naked choke. While Holland has always excelled as a striker, only ever being outstruck by Stephen 'Wonderboy' Thompson, Michael 'Venom' Page, and Michał Oleksiejczuk, the latter of whom he beat, grapplers have always been his bane.

So, he will have a familiar challenge in the form of Nelson, who is equally determined to win. However, he may benefit from Nelson's inactivity, as the Icelandic welterweight has been woefully inactive since 2020, fighting just twice, with his last bout being in 2023.

---

Kevin Holland is on a career-worst run

With even his fellow UFC roster-mates questioning his commitment to the sport, Kevin Holland has failed to impress as of late. He is currently nursing two separate losing streaks from a 1-4 run in his last five fights, with his only win being a surprise submission against an overzealous Michał Oleksiejczuk, who is 19-9 (1).

Check out Kevin Holland's loss to Reinier de Ridder:

This is a far cry from Holland's stellar 2020 run, which saw him fight five times to win every bout. He finished four of his five opponents, including a TKO over the dangerous Joaquin Buckley and an unorthodox knockout of Ronaldo 'Jacaré' Souza.