Is Kevin Holland a ‘Kung Fu’ Black Belt?

Having found mixed outcomes in his last few fights, Kevin Holland will make his return to the Octagon this weekend in another middleweight bout at UFC 311. He has done more losing than winning recently and would certainly hope he edges past his opponent when the cage door closes on January 18. But before we get to that fight, let’s take a deeper look into Holland’s fighting background.

Kevin Holland is not a rookie because he’s got a wealth of experience, given that he has 39 fights under his belt. Moreover, he only made it to the UFC in 2018, but he’s already competed under the banner 23 times, which is way more than someone like the biggest star Conor McGregor, who made his debut in Dana White‘s promotion five years earlier. But do you know what his fighting style is? Well, let’s take a look into that aspect of the middleweight star’s fighting career.

Kevin Holland’s fighting style

Kevin Holland, before his UFC Fight Night main event bout against Stephen Thompson in 2020, sat down with ‘Wonderboy’ for a chat. During the conversation with the former title challenger, Holland discussed his martial arts background and how he started his martial arts journey. ‘Trailblazer’ started training in the Chinese-American Kung Fu variant San Soo as a teenager.

It all started for him at the age of 16 after he was kicked out of high school, and that too, in his freshman year. Thereafter, Kevin Holland began his journey under the tutelage of the school’s martial arts instructor while he was suspended from school.“Yeah, Kung Fu San Soo, I got really really good at San Soo before I ever started doing MMA. I got kicked out of high school my freshman year and the school that I went to, there was a martial arts instructor. And literally all day, every day, all we did was martial arts,” he said.

Holland became a fan of the UFC after watching the UFC 100 anniversary mega-card and thus embarked on his MMA journey. However, along with being a Kung Fu practitioner, Holland also holds a respectable rank in the Chinese martial art.

What belt does Kevin Holland hold in Kung Fu?

Kevin Holland holds a second-degree black belt in Kung Fu, which makes him one of the few fighters in the UFC told that belt in this martial arts form. Additionally, the Riverside-born star also holds a black belt in Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu, which he earned under Travis Lutter. Although he relies primarily on his striking in the Octagon, Holland can also make use of his ground game if and when he needs to.

However, it seems Kevin Holland will not have much use of his BJJ black belt in his upcoming fight against Michael ‘Venom’ Page. This fight is expected to be mostly confined to the feet, given both men’s martial arts backgrounds and their striking-heavy styles. Now, let’s move to see the reason and the circumstances behind his decision to become an MMA fighter.

How did Kevin Holland start fighting?

Just like we mentioned earlier, Kevin Holland started his martial arts journey following his dismissal from high school. But the first time he ever fell in love with MMA was when he witnessed the 100th PPV of the promotion that featured, and at that time, he was with his father. “I started training for fighting at 16 years old when I walked into a gym for a kung fu class. I thought I was hot stuff, but the trainer gave me a whooping,” Holland told UFC.com.

But that’s not it because Kevin Holland also found his favorite fighter as well, and it was none other than former two-weight champion and Hall of Famer Georges St-Pierre. The fact that Holland decided to become a striker lies in the fact that his idol was also a prolific striker. Also, just like St-Pierre, ‘Trailblazer’ has also fought as a welterweight and as a middleweight in his UFC career. But the only thing that’s left for the 32-year-old to do is to win UFC gold just like ‘GSP’.

Well, before he can ever entertain a title fight, Kevin Holland will have to get past Reinier de Ridder at UFC 311. What do you reckon? Will ‘Trailblazer’ blaze past the Dutch newcomer? Let us know in the comments down below.