Getty Kevin Holland (R) and Alex Oliveira
UFC fan-favorite fighter Kevin Holland is returning to action on June 18 against “The Dirty Bird,” Tim Means, in Austin, Texas, at welterweight.
Holland revealed the news in a sketch video posted to Twitter on Friday. It starts with Holland sitting at a table counting his $50,000 “Performance of the Night” bonus he received for beating Alex Oliveira via second-round TKO at UFC 272 on March 5.
The camera cuts to “Trailblazer” receiving the news that he’s fighting Means in June, who he calls “Big Bird.” Holland then notices someone dressed up as Sesame Street’s Big Bird. Trailblazer chokes him out and then proceeds to dump the bird into a trash can.
The video ends with Holland snapping out of a daydream. Watch below via the Twitter embed:
Y’all watch me choke my chicken in Austin, TX on June 18th!!!!!! 🍗 🐔 🦢
Ohh and I cashed out on that Cowboy Oliveira bounty…. 50G’s baby
#dirtybird #austintx #2022 #fightnight #webackoutside #onlyfanshaditfirst
“Y’all watch me choke my chicken in Austin, TX on June 18th!!!!!!” Holland tweeted in the same post. “Ohh and I cashed out on that Cowboy Oliveira bounty…. 50G’s baby.”
Means is a 23-fight UFC veteran who competes at 170 pounds. He debuted in the promotion in 2012 and has fought inside the Octagon since then, except for two scraps in Legacy FC. The Dirty Bird has a professional mixed martial arts record of 32-12 with 19 wins via KO/TKO.
He holds notable victories over names like Mike Perry, Thiago Alves and John Howard.
Holland Is Up for Middleweight & Welterweight Clashes, Graded His Oliveira Fight a ‘C+’
A few days after his win over Oliveira, Holland appeared on “The MMA Hour.” During the interview, Trailblazer assessed his performance against the Brazilian and shared his interest in competing at both middleweight and welterweight.
“C+,” Holland said, grading his UFC 272 showing (via MMA Fighting). “Rough first round, probably could have did a little better on the microphone. It was alright. Can always do better.”
“He did a really good job of moving around. I kept touching that leg though. Tax the leg, tax the leg, tax the leg. I couldn’t find him with the hands so I taxed the leg, and eventually I think those legs started to get a little heavy. Then bada-bing, bada-bang, I lined him up, so I can’t be mad at it.”
It was Holland’s first trip down to welterweight in around five years, leaving middleweight following a 0-2 (with one no contest) skid. And although he had success over the UFC veteran at 170 pounds, Holland wouldn’t shy away from a 185-pound return.
“Everything is about timing,” Holland continued. “I had fun at ‘85, still plan on having some more fun there, so I can’t complain. I have a pretty decent name at ‘85. I was ranked 14 going into this fight, at middleweight. … You’ve got some of these guys ranked ahead of me at middleweight on some losing skids.
“If we’re just speaking here, just throwing out things, I feel like I could be ranked higher than those guys. And if we’re talking about 170, I would like to see where that goes. So no, [I don’t] wish that I did it sooner. I like where I’m sitting. I might be the only guy ranked at both weight classes, so it could be fun.”
Holland Would Like to Fight 5 More Times This Year
Holland also expressed his desire to fight six times in 2022. But if he does, he doesn’t expect to stay at 170 pounds for every fight.
“Shoot, if they’ve got something available next month at 185 pounds — because I don’t feel like going on a diet right this second — then I’ll do that, too,” Holland said.
“It would mess things up if I was shooting for something specifically. I’m just shooting to be an active guy. I’m just shooting to continue to grow and get experience and be a better fighter. So if I can fight five, six times this year, that’d be awesome. I like to fight a lot, so I can’t do every fight at 170 pounds if I’m gonna fight six times this year. There’s still some good fights at ‘85, so I’ll take whatever comes. I think an ‘85 fight sounds good right now if I want to go out and eat carne asada for the next few weeks.”