Derek Brunson says he holds all aces vs. Kevin Holland

Derek Brunson will look to derail one other hype prepare when he faces one in every of sport’s greatest rising stars.

After bouncing Edmen Shahbazyan out of the ranks of the unbeaten in August, Brunson (21-7 MMA, 12-5 UFC) will headline UFC Fight Night on March 20 when he takes on Kevin Holland.

Brunson has competed in opposition to a who’s who of the UFC’s middleweight class, however has discovered motivation in taking up the younger weapons of the division. Holland could have had an unimaginable 2020 – together with a knockout over Ronaldo Souza – however Brunson expects to have the benefit over him on combat evening.

“I see myself simply placing it on Holland,” Brunson instructed Mike Swick on the “Real Quick” podcast. “I don’t actually see anyone place that he’s higher than me. His cardio shouldn’t be higher than mine, his wrestling isn’t higher than mine, his putting isn’t higher than mine, his BJJ isn’t higher than mine.”

The pair share a previous historical past, as Brunson explains that he tried to recruit Holland (21-5 MMA, 8-2 UFC) as a coaching companion when he was getting ready to face Israel Adesanya at UFC 230 in November 2018. He claims {that a} younger Holland went from showering him with reward to calling him out on quite a few events simply a few years later.

“He’s been calling me out for the previous three fights,” Brunson mentioned. “And it’s humorous, as a result of I used to be gonna fly him in to coach with me for Izzy and I feel at this level I used to be like, ‘Man, you look good on the market, good job.’ He was like, ‘Oh man, it’s only a blessing. It’s such an honor to have a UFC man speaking to me,’ after which he went from that to calling me out, so I’m all about it.”