Kevin Holland is sticking around at welterweight after an impressive performance to beat Vicente Luque in the opening fight on the main card at UFC 316.
After nearly scoring the finish on the feet in the opening round, Holland tripped up Luque off a kick and then immediately snatched a nasty D’arce choke that ended the fight just a few seconds later. The end came at 1:03 in the second round as Holland picks up his second win in a row overall since returning to 170 pounds.
Holland with the darce
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“He wanted a war, so I wanted to give him a war,” Holland said about the win. “Whatever he wanted, I wanted to give it to him. I’m really, really good at doing a D’arce choke. My arms are just viciously long. I can put you in a D’arce choke from anywhere.”
A takedown attempt from Luque led to Holland unleashing a barrage of punches while fighting to stay on his feet. The punches were landing with such force that Luque was forced to abandon his wrestling and back out again to reset on the feet.
With room to work, Holland looked strong with his combinations but an inside elbow blasted Luque and he was clearly rattled from the shot. Despite being wobbled briefly, Luque came right back at him with some powerful shots and that allowed him enough time to recover.
As the second round got started, Luque seemed to settle into his striking a little more, which led to him throwing a low kick but Holland was quick to counter by grabbing the foot and tripping him down to the ground. Luque barely had a chance to react as he tried to get up again but Holland immediately latched onto the D’arce choke before falling down to the ground to lock on the submission.
Luque tried desperately to break loose but there was no escape as he tapped out to end the fight with Holland getting the second round finish.
Afterwards, Holland had a callout ready to fire and he immediately took aim at former interim welterweight champion Colby Covington.
“Colby Covington, you’re the worst guy in the welterweight division,” Holland shouted. “I like beating up on sorry people. Luque was a tough fight, Colby would be an easy one.”
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