๐จ๐๐ ๐๐ถ๐ด๐ต๐ ๐ก๐ถ๐ด๐ต๐: ๐๐ฟ๐๐ป๐๐ผ๐ป ๐๐ ๐๐ผ๐น๐น๐ฎ๐ป๐ฑ aired live in Asia on Sunday, March 21 from the UFC Apex Arena in Las Vegas.
The Main Event middleweight contendersโ bout saw #7 Derek Brunson stop the momentum of #10 Kevin Holland with dominant grappling and ground control over the course of five rounds. Holland showed moments of his excellent striking capability, but he wasnโt able to escape Brunsonโs veteran-born pressure on the ground.
Brunson got a clean sweep on the scorecards with a unanimous decision win. Brunson said,
โ๐โ๐ฎ 37, ๐ฃ๐ถ๐ต ๐ฎ๐บ ๐จ๐ฐ๐ข๐ญ ๐ข๐ด ๐ข ๐ฎ๐ข๐ณ๐ต๐ช๐ข๐ญ ๐ข๐ณ๐ต๐ช๐ด๐ต ๐ช๐ด ๐ต๐ฐ ๐ฌ๐ฆ๐ฆ๐ฑ ๐จ๐ฆ๐ต๐ต๐ช๐ฏ๐จ ๐ฃ๐ฆ๐ต๐ต๐ฆ๐ณ. ๐๐จ๐ฆ ๐ข๐ช๐ฏโ๐ต ๐ฏ๐ฐ๐ต๐ฉ๐ช๐ฏ๐จ ๐ฃ๐ถ๐ต ๐ข ๐ฏ๐ถ๐ฎ๐ฃ๐ฆ๐ณ. ๐ ๐ซ๐ถ๐ด๐ต ๐ธ๐ข๐ฏ๐ต ๐ต๐ฐ ๐ฌ๐ฆ๐ฆ๐ฑ ๐จ๐ฆ๐ต๐ต๐ช๐ฏ๐จ ๐ฃ๐ฆ๐ต๐ต๐ฆ๐ณ ๐ข๐ฏ๐ฅ ๐ธ๐ช๐ฏ๐ฏ๐ช๐ฏ๐จ. ๐๐ฏ ๐ฐ๐ณ๐ฅ๐ฆ๐ณ ๐ต๐ฐ ๐ณ๐ฆ๐ข๐ค๐ฉ ๐ฎ๐บ ๐จ๐ฐ๐ข๐ญ๐ด ๐ข๐ฏ๐ฅ ๐ฆ๐ข๐ณ๐ฏ ๐ข ๐ต๐ช๐ต๐ญ๐ฆ ๐ด๐ฉ๐ฐ๐ต, ๐ ๐ฉ๐ข๐ฅ ๐ต๐ฐ ๐ธ๐ช๐ฏ ๐ฉ๐ฆ๐ณ๐ฆ. ๐๐ต ๐ธ๐ข๐ด ๐จ๐ณ๐ช๐ต๐ต๐บ, ๐ฃ๐ถ๐ต ๐ ๐ค๐ข๐ฎ๐ฆ ๐ฐ๐ถ๐ต ๐ฉ๐ฆ๐ณ๐ฆ ๐ข๐ฏ๐ฅ ๐จ๐ฐ๐ต ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐ธ๐ช๐ฏ.2021, ๐ ๐ธ๐ข๐ฏ๐ต ๐ต๐ฐ ๐ฉ๐ข๐ท๐ฆ ๐ข ๐ฃ๐ช๐จ ๐บ๐ฆ๐ข๐ณ. ๐ ๐ธ๐ข๐ฏ๐ต ๐ฃ๐ช๐จ ๐ง๐ช๐จ๐ฉ๐ต๐ด. ๐ ๐ซ๐ถ๐ด๐ต ๐ธ๐ข๐ฏ๐ต ๐ต๐ฐ ๐ฌ๐ฆ๐ฆ๐ฑ ๐ฆ๐ญ๐ฆ๐ท๐ข๐ต๐ช๐ฏ๐จ ๐ฎ๐บ๐ด๐ฆ๐ญ๐ง. ๐๐ฉ๐ฆ๐ด๐ฆ ๐ต๐ณ๐ข๐ช๐ฏ๐ช๐ฏ๐จ ๐ค๐ข๐ฎ๐ฑ๐ด ๐ฅ๐ฐ๐ฏโ๐ต ๐จ๐ฆ๐ต ๐ข๐ฏ๐บ ๐ฆ๐ข๐ด๐ช๐ฆ๐ณ, ๐ฃ๐ถ๐ต ๐โ๐ฎ ๐ฆ๐ฏ๐ซ๐ฐ๐บ๐ช๐ฏ๐จ ๐ช๐ต ๐ข๐ฏ๐ฅ ๐จ๐ฆ๐ต๐ต๐ช๐ฏ๐จ ๐ฃ๐ฆ๐ต๐ต๐ฆ๐ณ. ๐ ๐ธ๐ข๐ฏ๐ต ๐ต๐ฐ ๐ข๐ช๐ฎ ๐ง๐ฐ๐ณ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐ด๐ต๐ข๐ณ๐ด.โ
Kevin Holland opened with a slip from Holland that gave Brunson top control, where he dominated with strikes for the entire five minutes.
Round two started as the polar opposite with a huge clash of fists and knockdown from Holland, then a comeback takedown from Brunson and a long choke attempt. Brunson owned the remainder of the rounds with his wrestling.
Holland had moments with his striking and even a takedown in the final round, but it was not enough to earn the advantage over Brunsonโs experience and game-plan. Holland even chatted with Khabib Nurmagomedov whoโs sitting on cage side, asking him for wrestling advice.
Brunson keeps his higher place in the rankings with the unanimous decision win.
