What happened to Kevin Holland at UFC 307? Explaining outcome of fight against Roman Dolidze

The UFC 307 middleweight clash between Roman Dolidze and Kevin Holland came to an anticlimactic end after the opening round, as an injury forced 'Trailblazer's' team to stop the contest.

Holland came into the fight with aggressive intent. He was loading up on his shots early on in the contest. Unfortunately for the American, his opponent capitalized on his aggressive approach.

Dolidze exploded to secure a takedown after catching Holland off guard following a body kick. Thereafter, he racked up a considerable amount of control time. In an attempt to create opportunities to get back to his feet, 'Trailblazer' attempted to lock in an arm bar. However, this spelled the beginning of the end of the fight.

'The Caucasian' rolled his opponent over to escape the submission attempt. This maneuver caused an injury to Holland's ribs. Despite being in excruciating pain for the rest of the round, 'Trailblazer' continued defending himself from a barrage of ground and pound.

But as soon as the round ended, Holland signaled to referee Jason Herzog that he had hurt his ribs during the sequence. The veteran MMA referee then granted the fighter's team time to assess the situation and make a call on whether or not to continue the fight.

Watch Kevin Holland's interaction with the referee below:

His corner quickly realized that 'Trailblazer' was in debilitating pain and was in no condition to continue, forcing them to make the difficult decision to throw in the towel, granting Dolidze a TKO win.

Watch Roman Dolidze console Kevin Holland and celebrate the win below:

The loss has left Holland with a record of 2-3 in his last five. His position in the middleweight rankings might now be up for grabs.

Meanwhile, 'The Caucasian' is eager for a bigger challenge following the win. During his post-fight interview, Dolidze expressed his interest in facing either the winner or loser of the UFC 308 co-main event between Robert Whittaker and Khamzat Chimaev.