Once again, UFC fighter Kevin Holland has found himself involved in an altercation with another fighter outside of the octagon.
On Wednesday, at the host hotel for UFC 287 in Miami, Holland and welterweight Jorge Masvidal exchanged heated words in the lobby.
Fortunately, security intervened before the situation escalated further, and both fighters were sent on their way. According to a source familiar with the situation, while the altercation did not turn physical, there were verbal insults exchanged between the two fighters. The source also revealed that Masvidal and Holland had previously established negative feelings towards each other.
A video of the altercation was posted on Twitter, and another on Instagram by UFC welterweight Belal Muhammad, which shows Masvidal and Holland shouting at each other.
In an apparent effort to preempt the news, Holland posted a now-deleted selfie video on Instagram just moments before the video capturing the end of the altercation surfaced.
“That video is going to come out,” Holland said. “Then, they’re probably going to do an opponent change again.”
The aforementioned sentence was a humorous reference to Holland's infamous altercation with Khamzat Chimaev during UFC 279 fight week, which resulted in the cancellation of the pre-fight news conference. After some rearranging of matchups, Holland and Chimaev were eventually scheduled to face each other, following a weight miss by Chimaev.
Dubbed as "Big Mouth" by UFC president Dana White, Kevin Holland has had his fair share of altercations with opponents and potential opponents around MMA events. Since September, Holland has been involved in various degrees of altercations with Khamzat Chimaev, manager Ali Abdelaziz, and UFC middleweight Joseph Holmes.
Meanwhile, Jorge Masvidal is currently facing legal trouble for his alleged physical attack on UFC rival Colby Covington outside a Miami steakhouse in March 2022. Masvidal faces two felony charges, and the case is still ongoing.
UFC 287 is set to take place on Saturday at Miami-Dade Arena in Miami. The main card will air on pay-per-view after prelims on ESPN and early prelims on ESPN+. Masvidal will co-headline the event against Gilbert Burns, while Holland will face Santiago Ponzinibbio. For more information on the card, visit MMA Junkie's event hub for UFC 287.
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