UFC President Dana White was puzzled by Kevin Holland at the UFC main event on ESPN 21.
The Netherlands (21-6 MMA, 7-3 UFC) broke the five-fight winning streak by Derek Brunson (22-7 MMA, 13-5 UFC) in a unanimous loss of decision in Saturday’s UFC head-to-head Apex from Las Vegas.
Although the Netherlands entered the battle well known for its words in the cage and for its agitated acts, he took it to a new level in the fight with Brunson. He spoke from the moment the fight began and even had a conversation with White and former UFC champion Khabib Nurmagomedov, who were stationed on the cage.
White believes that Holland’s vocal level, as he was knocked down and lost the rounds to Brunson, was triggered by breaking under stage pressure.
“I think it was a mental fall,” UFC President Dana White told Yahoo! Sports. “The only other thing I saw was that [in boxing] when Lennox Lewis fought that guy [Oliver McCall] who was holding his hands next to him and crying. I don’t know what he was doing. I think he may not have been able to cope with the pressure and he just broke up mentally. I’ve never seen anything like it. ”
White was not the only one who thought about the Dutch party. A number of fighters intervened on social media as the fight unfolded, and while some were distracted, others were critical.
The Netherlands said in the UFC on ESPN 21, after the post-fight show, that it intends to descend to the welterweight division after its first loss in October 2019.