Middleweights
Kevin Holland (18-5) vs. Darren Stewart (12-5)Even if it always seems that Holland is just messing around inside the Octagon, it is a testament to his skills that he has been able to succeed as much as he has in practice. After all, this is a man who started his UFC career by trying a flying triangle choke against Thiago Santos. Among all the trash talk and seemingly random selections of offense from the “Trail Blazer,” he has managed to channel his talents effectively in his last few bouts. He swarmed Anthony Hernandez for a 39-second finish in May, and he spent his most recent outing in August picking apart Joaquin Buckley—all while talking an immense amount of trash, of course. He now takes on London’s Stewart, who is a bit of a difficult fighter to parse at this point. Stewart’s style was relatively simple at one point, focusing on scoring a quick knockout and little else. However, after imploding in most of his early UFC bouts, it soon became clear that “The Dentist” needed to change his approach. Stewart has won five of his last six fights inside the UFC, but it feels like those victories are more defined by his opponent’s weaknesses than anything else, whether it was Charles Byrd’s lack of a gas tank, Bevon Lewis’ passivity or Maki Pitolo’s lack of defense. During that run, Stewart actually lost a one-off fight in Cage Warriors Fighting Championship to Bartosz Fabinski, which showed that an opponent who was willing to keep imposing his will on Stewart—provided he has more defensive awareness than Pitolo—can still get things done. That should be the key for Holland. He is simply the more reliable fighter over 15 minutes, and he has never shown the types of defensive or cardio concerns that could provide Stewart the opening to turn the fight. If Holland is pressing the fight, he is actually likelier to find a finish than walk into a loss. The pick is Holland via second-round submission.
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