Kevin Holland wants to replace Khamzat Chimaev against Leon Edwards at UFC Fight Island

3 years AGO

Holland called out Edwards

Middleweight Kevin Holland offered to replace Khamzat Chimaev in a showdown against Leon Edwards scheduled on January 20 at UFC Fight Island event.

Chimaev had to withdraw from the tournament

Khamzat and Leon were supposed to headline a competition on UFC Fight Island in Abu-Dhabi. However, Brett Okamoto reported that Chimaev pulled out from the card due to undisclosed reasons. Okamoto hopes that the UFC will reschedule the contest.

Confirmed Khamzat Chimaev is out of the Leon Edwards main event on Jan. 20. First reported by @FrontkickOnline. UFC has Chiesa/Magny on same card, and could use one of them, but loves Chimaev/Edwards so much I could see them just rescheduling. TBD. https://t.co/VbkwWRDHfx
— Brett Okamoto (@bokamotoESPN) December 29, 2020

Despite Borze’s withdrawal, Edwards wants to fight on January 20. He has challenged Jorge Masvidal, who is ranked fourth at welterweight. Leon takes third place; thus, their bout definitely makes sense. However, Gamebred has not answered yet. Holland, on the contrary, was fast to call out Edwards on Twitter. He claimed that the UFC needed a replacement for Chimaev and he was ready to do Borze’s work.

Hold up, so am I hearing the #ufcFightIsland hotel has a vacancy and needs a real man to come and do work January 20th? #callbigmouth pic.twitter.com/0zX4cPZMvo
— Kevin Holland (@Trailblaze2top) December 29, 2020

The Athletic handed Kevin an award “Breakthrough Fighter of the Year”. In 2020, Trail Blazer set an incredible record – he won 5 clashes in a row in just 8 months. Moreover, Holland pocketed 3 bonuses for the best performance and took 10th place at middleweight. He is looking forward to beating several top contestants and challenging the reigning champion Israel Adesanya in 2021.

Congrats to Kevin Holland (@Trailblaze2top), @TheAthleticMMA's 2020 Breakthrough Fighter of the Year.https://t.co/wg9HJ1Rnxs (via @shaunalshatti)
— The Athletic MMA (@TheAthleticMMA) December 28, 2020

Vicente Luque believes that the UFC should set up his rematch against Edwards because fans would love to see it. The athletes met inside the octagon for the first time in 2017. Rocky dominated throughout the whole clash: he landed almost twice as many significant strikes and made 6 takedowns. As a result, all judges scored the contest in favor of Edwards.