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Holland announced that he was retiring from the sport shortly after a hectic fight week at UFC 279 that saw significant card changes and altercations behind the scenes. The UFC 279 card was saved by Holland to a big extent after Khamzat Chimaev, who was supposed to compete in the main event, failed to make weight. Shortly before the bout, "Trailblazer" agreed to face the unbeaten welterweight, but lost by first-round submission.
But his statement is being greeted with suspicion. Since he has quit competing in the combat sport, Kevin Holland assures us that his declaration of his retirement is genuine. Holland most recently requested support from his supporters for his future career decision through his Instagram page, where he declared his decision to retire young. When speaking about the matter in public for the first time away from social media during the launch of his new podcast.
“So, I’m retired. I’m officially retired,” Holland said. “I’m retired from fighting. I had a good fight, a good payday, I had a good run. I see some of the people online [saying] ‘obviously he realizes he’ll never get the belt’ and my little psychedelic trip, that means I was wrong. I can’t be wrong on a psychedelic trip. I’ve lost coming out to Young Boy. That was my last hope, never losing coming out to Young Boy. Times are rough for your boy.
“But I’m really, really happy on the green side. Unless something super-duper magical pops up, yeah, I’m pretty happy with the way things are.”
After the unexpected fight with Chimaev, he received a substantial payoff, but the financial reward he received more than made up for his disappointing performance. He also claimed that after the fight, he had no ill feelings at all for Chimaev.
“He put me in a very good spot in my life,” Holland said about Chimaev. “We love that guy. I’m actually thinking about getting a poster of that guy hung up in my bathroom.”
Holland says he will focus on his new podcast and perhaps start his gym in the Texas city of Fort Worth now that he has retired from mixed martial arts. Although his hard-hitting news about the retirement stirred the MMA Fans, Dana White also reacted to the news in the post-event media interview for DWCS Season 6.
"You know, I'm really close to this kid, and I like him a lot. I think when you are competing in a sport like this, and you've done the things that Kevin Holland has done. You know, he gets out of the fight with Derek Brunson and realizes that he needs to work on his wrestling more. So, he dives in and starts working on his wrestling and I think what happened to him happens to you, you lay in bed and go, 'Holy s**t!"
"He's an emotional guy. I think the emotions got the best of him. Just take some time, get back in the gym and whatever he wants to do he can do. But it's a little too soon for him to retire."