Kevin Holland Gets Wish, Headlines UFC on ABC 2 Against Marvin Vettori

Update April 1st, 2021 pic.twitter.com/IAkryJWTZx

— Kevin Holland (@Trailblaze2top) April 1, 2021

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A standout Ultimate Fighting Championship middleweight has embraced the old adage of “ask and ye shall receive.”

The UFC on ABC 2 main event was minus a competitor after Darren Till broke his collarbone earlier this week. Immediately after this news broke, Kevin Holland (21-6) spoke up, saying he would take the fight against Marvin Vettori (16-4-1). Per Holland on social media, and then confirmed by multiple outlets, the two middleweights will now headline the April 10 card at the UFC Apex in Las Vegas.

Holland last competed at UFC on ESPN 21 on March 20, where he dropped a decision to Derek Brunson to snap a five-fight win streak. The Texas native will tie a record held by Deiveson Figueiredo and Michael Bisping for the shortest turnaround between two headliner spots. Figueiredo served as the main attraction for both UFC 255 and UFC 266, 21 days apart, while Bisping fought atop UFC 217 and came back three weeks later to lose to Kelvin Gastelum on UFC Fight Night 122. Before his one-sided loss to Brunson, Holland rose through the rankings by knocking out Anthony Hernandez, Joaquin Buckley and Ronaldo Souza.

Vettori is currently on the longest winning streak of his UFC tenure, taking a trio of decisions over Cezar Ferreira, Andrew Sanchez and Jack Hermansson, while also tapping out Karl Roberson along the way. When he faced Hermansson, he became the first Italian-born fighter to ever headline a UFC card. The Kings MMA fighter’s lone defeat in the last few years came against Israel Adesanya, where he dropped a narrow split verdict to the future champ.

UFC on ABC 2 will take place on April 10 at the UFC Apex in Las Vegas, with Vettori vs. Holland now the marquee matchup. Additional main card pairings include a featherweight scrap between Sodiq Yusuff and Arnold Allen, as well as a middleweight clash between Kyle Daukaus and Aliaskhab Khizriev.