Kevin Holland believes he should land fight with Daniel Rodriguez following UFC 272 victory

Off the back of a successful welterweight division drop on Saturday at UFC 272, Kevin Holland initially called for a showdown against Donald Cerrone next, however, has since switched focus from the former lightweight title challenger, and believes a pairing with his teammate, Daniel Rodriguez makes sense for him. 

Holland, a native of Riverside, featured in a high-profile main card outing at UFC 272 against Alex Oliveira – surviving a late opening round rear-naked choke from the Brazilian veteran, to eventually land an impressive second round knockout via ground strikes early in the frame. 

The victory snapped a run of three fights without a win for Holland, who insisted that since he managed to take out ‘Cowboy’ Oliveira, a matchup against ‘Cowboy’ Cerrone made sense for him next.

However, Holland revealed after his call out that he had received a direct message from Cerrone’s teammate, streaking welterweight contender, the aforenoted, Rodriguez. 

“I think I should be fighting Daniel Rodriguez next,” Kevin Holland told assembled media. “Last time I called out ‘Cowboy’ (Donald Cerrone), Daniel Rodriguez hopped in my inbox and said, ‘Hey, don’t do that, that’s my OG’. If I take out the student, I don’t feel like I need to take out the OG. At the end of the day, I’m a big ‘Cowboy’ fan, so it probably wouldn’t make feel as good as I think it would.”

While Holland initially called out Cerrone, the 38-year-old future Hall of Fame inducted is already slated to meet with fellow veteran, Joe Lauzon in his lightweight division return on May 7. at UFC 274. 

Californian veteran, Rodriguez is currently in the midst of a three-fight winning run – most recently besting former interim lightweight championship challenger, Kevin Lee with a unanimous decision victory back in August – landing him his sixth Octagon victory. 

Ross Markey

Senior writer for FightBook MMA. An aspiring mixed martial arts reporter based in Ireland. Producer of news articles, interviews, opinion features, and exclusive features such as, ‘The Fallout’, ‘The Breakdown, and, ‘This Week In MMA’.