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Kevin Holland will require surgery to fix the injury to his broken hand caused by Stephen "Wonderboy" Thompson at UFC Orlando.
In the main event welterweight bout on Saturday at the Amway Centre in Orlando, Florida, Stephen Thompson defeated Holland via fourth-round TKO by corner stoppage. As the rounds went on, he seldom used his right hand, and it was clear that something was amiss because he had been considered quite careless in trading during the first set.
Holland's hand fracture was critical in terms of its magnitude. The 30-year-old welterweight suffered injuries to his right hand's third, fourth, and fifth metacarpal bones after connecting with Thompson shortly in the first round, according to Holland's manager Oren Hodak from KO Reps. On Sunday, Holland uploaded a picture of his extremely swelled hand.
To plan out the procedure, Holland is anticipated to consult with an orthopedic hand specialist on Monday. When he will be able to resume his combat duties is not known with any certainty.
Early in the first round, Holland struck Thompson with a right hand in what turned out to be the fight's best blow. Thompson was caught out instantly as the punch landed, and Holland tried to take advantage of the opportunity, but Thompson was capable of rising and carrying on with the fight.
The damage prohibited Holland from truly executing the punch after the first round ended, and he could be seen yanking his hand for the rest of the fight. By the end of the fourth round, Holland was still struggling with the injury and enduring a significant punishment from Thompson's persistent attacks, so his trainers decided to call off the fight.
Holland's setback to Thompson moved him to 0-3 in UFC main event bouts, and his submission defeat to Khamzat Chimaev at UFC 279 in September made it back-to-back losses for him.