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UFC’s Derek Brunson says he holds all the aces ahead of Kevin Holland bout

Derek Brunson will look to derail another hype train when he faces one of sport’s biggest 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 against a who’s who of the UFC’s middleweight class, but has found motivation in taking on the young guns of the division. Holland may have had an incredible 2020 – including a knockout over Ronaldo Souza – but Brunson expects to have the advantage over him on fight night.

“I see myself just putting it on Holland,” Brunson told Mike Swick on the “Real Quick” podcast. “I don’t really see any one place that he’s better than me. His cardio is not better than mine, his wrestling isn’t better than mine, his striking isn’t better than mine, his BJJ isn’t better than mine.”

The pair share a prior history, as Brunson explains that he tried to recruit Holland (21-5 MMA, 8-2 UFC) as a training partner when he was preparing to face Israel Adesanya at UFC 230 in November 2018. He claims that a young Holland went from showering him with praise to calling him out on numerous occasions just a couple of years later.

“He’s been calling me out for the past three fights,” Brunson said. “And it’s funny, because I was gonna fly him in to train with me for Izzy and I think at this point I was like, ‘Man, you look good out there, good job.’ He was like, ‘Oh man, it’s just a blessing. It’s such an honor to have a UFC guy talking to me,’ and then he went from that to calling me out, so I’m all about it.”

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