Kevin Holland’s special 2020 included a finish of Joaquin Buckley.
Buckley made his octagon debut on short notice against Holland at UFC Fight Night 174, but “Big Mouth” proved to be too much.
Holland did a good job of evading Buckley’s big power and managed to drop him early with a blistering counter right. Buckley continued to throw heavy leather, while Holland stayed long with teep kicks and straight shots.
But just 32 seconds into Round 3, Holland sat Buckley down with another straight right, sending his mouth piece flying for the TKO win.
Since then, Holland (23-8 MMA, 10-5 UFC) has picked up big wins over Ronaldo Souza, Alex Oliveira and Tim Means. He returns to action Saturday when he takes on former title challenger Stephen Thompson (16-6-1 MMA, 11-6-1 UFC) in the main event of UFC on ESPN 42, which takes place at Amway Center in Orlando, Fla. The card airs on ESPN and streams on ESPN+.
Before he faces Thompson, relive Holland’s finish of Buckley in the video above.
