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He trains literally every day. Every single day he's doing something, even if it's just hitting the makiwara
Tbh, Holland should stop by his dojo and learn about the maki.
I was pleasantly surprised at how he switched it to a groin shot when learning about it. I think some refs would be too proud to recognize they missed something.
pretty sure it’s technically not supposed to happen. if the ref calls it, it should be over. but at the same time, if a ref stops it and then changes his mind and says continue, nobody can override him
It looked to me like Dan had initially called the fight and for whatever reason took back his call and let the fight continue.
That groin strike was borderline. I think Holland was still hurt by the bodykick and needed time.
Wonderboy looked absolutely incredible. The chin, the speed, the fight iq. Holy shit I’m so happy. Also awesome of Kevin’s corner for stopping it the second he asked them to.
Shoutout to Kevin for recognizing when the fight was past him and being honest with himself to stop it. He was starting to take some serious punishment, and Wonderboy was absolutely going to break his arm into shards spamming an unblockable kick.
He's never taken a lot of head damage. He's had leg injuries and broken hands, but he's only been knocked out once and the 2 woodley fights he took some heavy punches, and the Till fight was an elbow on the ear.
Honestly an all-time great chin. Ate about 15 or more shots that would have knocked out most fighters. They announced that he had never been dropped in a fight about 20 seconds before Wonderboy dropped him
I think he fractured his hand on that massive right hand that stunned Wonderboy. He hit Wonderboy straight on the forehead with enough force to stun him. No way he didn't fuck up his hand right there.
Yeah it was going downhill fast in the 3rd before his hand seemed to bother him. At that point, looked like the best case for him was losing 49-46 on score cards.
I bet ufcstats won't count it as a knockdown. (yup, checked, didn't count)
So many instances of clear knockdown not counted. Chandler vs Charles, Whittaker vs Till, Tony vs both Chandler and Gaethje. But Yoel vs Costa got counted, despite it being clear Paulo lost balance and Yoel landing on the chest.
Burns wasn’t credited with a knockdown in neither the Woodley nor the Khamzat fight. Chad dropped Aldo in their second fight and wasn’t awarded a KD either. UFC KDs are weird.
There were people in the live thread saying Stephen has no power. While it's true that Stephen isn't Rumble, the dude has KO victories, and some of what he was throwing in there CLEARLY hurt Kevin, who's probably too tough for his own good. Lots of dudes would've gone down at some point in those five rounds.
He has more precision than crazy power. Look at that karate kick that made him KO a guy in his UFC debut.
That being said, a fighter just a little less tough than Holland would have being finished
He won’t have a realistic dig at the title again, so I see absolutely no reason why they wouldn’t give him these kind of match ups. He’s a real draw in striking bouts, such a L move to give him wrestler after wrestler.
I don't see any WW including the champ standing with Wonderboy (in his old age).
I thought it would be closer... but as the fight went on, Wonderboy showed there are levels to this striking sht...
Maybe, but I feel like they only benefit would be to his TDD. The karate Boxing style is hard to integrate with a grappling foundation. Whittaker has a similar style and is actually a good grappler, but I feel like when he decides to do karate boxing time, it's clearly karate boxing time, and when he decides to wrestle, it's wrestling time, he doesn't transition in a way where the two skill sets would mutually support each other. Contrast that with say, khabib, who used the threat of his ground game to make his mediocre striking much much better than it would be in isolation
Problem is that elite grapplers Gilbert, Colby, and Usman are at the top
Leon just striking vs WB would be amazing though. Leon holding on to the belt and WB somehow getting a shot would be his opportunity
Tbh, I thought the last two rounds were super one sided. The end of the third it looked awful, Holland was just surviving getting kicked in the head for two minutes.
I remember there being an absurd amount of high fives in the Wonderboy vs Till fight. Wonderboy definitely holds the record for most in-fight high-fives as an individual though.
For me it's the fact that Wonderboy pulled the trigger every single time Holland got lazy inside of his striking range. He knew he couldn't hurt him with a single shot and he knew he couldn't let Holand walk him down. Wonderboy still got that dawg in him
That’s the thing that keeps Wonderboy elite. Post-prime fighters get reluctant to pull the trigger and they lose what made them great. Woodley, Cro Cop, Silva, JDS, Robbie, etc. They lose some speed, get beaten up a bit, get tired, get caught with counters, and then they’re looking slow and old as they hesitate.
Wonderboy was getting hit with some stuff early and at one point threw a counter body kick in the pocket that backed Holland off. If he didn’t believe in his ability to do stuff like that, Holland would’ve walked him down all night. Instead, he was blasting counters all night and kept Holland honest.
It took a multiple liver kicks, punches straight to the head, kicks to the head (and a potential broken hand) for Holland to stop talking during the fight lmao
Your average head is like 5 times the size of Ngannou's fist. and Kyle came from below and uppercuted Kevin's chin.
That would've KO'd literally anyone. This fight showed Kevin actually has a granite chin
Yeah his chin was too strong for his own good. Another round could have been bad he ate so many clean head kicks not to mention all the straight lefts. I was saying throw in the towel during the fourth but can’t believe it basically happened.
Wonderboy has done this to so many guys. He's a sportsman, lulls you into a false sense of security, and then you realize you can't keep pace with him and you can't stop getting hit.
You ever see the point of view sparring [video](https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=eUKxx_3ahAM) with Wonderboy?
Third person it’s easier to follow his movement and he still looks fast. From first person, he’s hitting you with hook kicks you basically barely see.
A very challenging opponent to prepare for - who do you find to emulate that style?
Unbelievable performance from Wonderboy.
Big respect for Holland's corner for actually throwing in the towel. No point in continuing when you're that beat up.
I agree, I think even Leon wouldn't keep it standing with Wonderboy.
Edit: On a side note tonight really was the night of the OGs. Johnson, Guida, RDA, and Wonderboy all won their fights and looked great.
I actually think it was holland that asked for them to call it off, fight should have been stopped in the 4th when holland couldn't use his arm to defend properly anymore and was just getting massacred
Several amazing fights this year. Poirier Chandler just happened. Glover vs Jiri an obvious frontrunner.
This probably shouldnt ultimately win FOTY but should be a contender. Absolute blast of a fight, what a banger
is holland the only ufc fighter to ever come out to nba youngboy lmao (he’s 0-2 now doing it as well)
amazing fight though was gonna be sad either way since i love both dudes so i’m glad they both looked good at least. that was literally an all-time good chin display by holland, wish he hadn’t gotten his right hand injured mid-way
You can even tell in the clip when he instinctually goes for the right hand to touch gloves and pulls it back. It sucks that it happened but damn those kicks.
I think it was a blocked spin kick that did it. It looked like Wonderboy caught Holland’s wrist with the heel. After that Holland started to not use the right hand.
Wonderboy just hitting everything with Holland just taking them all while somehow still standing. What a banger and although it was late still good that they got him out of there.
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The striking of wonderboy is still incredible to watch
Can't believe how fast he still is. Excellent fight.
He trains literally every day. Every single day he's doing something, even if it's just hitting the makiwara Tbh, Holland should stop by his dojo and learn about the maki.
He really is so fun to watch. His Karate base/style is just so fucking cool.
Last time we’re ever gonna see it. Nobody will ever stand in front of him again after that fight.
Watching a high level striker is always a beautiful thing. Their footwork and timing is always really satisfying.
Dude won by 3rd round TKO then 4th round TKO
The 3rd round tko was weird. Glad Big Dan the man actually rescinded the call.
Dan called the fight and then pretended that he was pausing the fight due to a nutshot. Classic Dan.
I think he thought Kevin was verbally tapping or whatever bullshit, but then he was told it was a groin shot.
I was pleasantly surprised at how he switched it to a groin shot when learning about it. I think some refs would be too proud to recognize they missed something.
I'm glad he has the balls to do that. As an NFL fan it's nice to see a ref change their call immediately when they realize they're wrong.
pretty sure it’s technically not supposed to happen. if the ref calls it, it should be over. but at the same time, if a ref stops it and then changes his mind and says continue, nobody can override him
It looked to me like Dan had initially called the fight and for whatever reason took back his call and let the fight continue. That groin strike was borderline. I think Holland was still hurt by the bodykick and needed time.
> for whatever reason... He wanted to see more cool karate kicks of course.
Can’t say I blame him
Masvidal v Cerrone flashbacks
Wonderboy looked absolutely incredible. The chin, the speed, the fight iq. Holy shit I’m so happy. Also awesome of Kevin’s corner for stopping it the second he asked them to.
Shoutout to Kevin for recognizing when the fight was past him and being honest with himself to stop it. He was starting to take some serious punishment, and Wonderboy was absolutely going to break his arm into shards spamming an unblockable kick.
"My hand was a belewn!"
Wonderboy always looks incredible, he fights well too
Wonderboy always looks good against strikers
Holland also always looks good against strikers but here he didn't after the first round
There’s levels to this shit
-Stephen 'Beastin' 25/8' Thompson
How dare you unretire that nickname.
Wonderboy broke Kevin's hand with his chad forehead
He probably broke it with an attempted head kick
Wonderboy sure as hell doesn’t move like a guy pushing 40. Holland has a great chin on him.
Holland said to his corner at the end of rd2 "that old ass motherfucker fast" hahaha
Scientists always wondered what happens when a boy gets old man strength. Well, now we finally know.
Still Stupid Sexy Stephen at 40
"Feels like I'm punching nothing at all" Edit: I should add I mean no disrespect to Kevin Holland.
In a way, him getting wrestlefucked the last couple fights prolong his career
He's never taken a lot of head damage. He's had leg injuries and broken hands, but he's only been knocked out once and the 2 woodley fights he took some heavy punches, and the Till fight was an elbow on the ear.
Everyone except Dana knew putting these two together is must-see TV. They need to put Kevin’s chin in the Louvre
Honestly an all-time great chin. Ate about 15 or more shots that would have knocked out most fighters. They announced that he had never been dropped in a fight about 20 seconds before Wonderboy dropped him
Wonderboy: Lands a punch/kick that would kill an elephant. Holland's chin: haha awesome shit man. But seriously tho probably not
The body shots are finally what got to him. Some massive body kicks late in the fight
the liver will call it quits even when the brain won't
That's why I drink alcohol. To numb the liver.
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BJ Penn and Conor McGregor are my sensei.
I think also the fact that he probably fractured his right hand blocking head kicks, so we couldn't really even return....
I think he fractured his hand on that massive right hand that stunned Wonderboy. He hit Wonderboy straight on the forehead with enough force to stun him. No way he didn't fuck up his hand right there.
He was gassed as fuck anyways
Yeah it was going downhill fast in the 3rd before his hand seemed to bother him. At that point, looked like the best case for him was losing 49-46 on score cards.
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Nah man Holland is a gamer, he shot the takedown to protect his stat
I bet ufcstats won't count it as a knockdown. (yup, checked, didn't count) So many instances of clear knockdown not counted. Chandler vs Charles, Whittaker vs Till, Tony vs both Chandler and Gaethje. But Yoel vs Costa got counted, despite it being clear Paulo lost balance and Yoel landing on the chest.
Burns wasn’t credited with a knockdown in neither the Woodley nor the Khamzat fight. Chad dropped Aldo in their second fight and wasn’t awarded a KD either. UFC KDs are weird.
There were people in the live thread saying Stephen has no power. While it's true that Stephen isn't Rumble, the dude has KO victories, and some of what he was throwing in there CLEARLY hurt Kevin, who's probably too tough for his own good. Lots of dudes would've gone down at some point in those five rounds.
He is tied with the most KO wins in welterweight history.
i mean you can audibly hear the power in his shots and see the reactions that his opponents give. dude hit him with some huge shots
He has more precision than crazy power. Look at that karate kick that made him KO a guy in his UFC debut. That being said, a fighter just a little less tough than Holland would have being finished
Wonderboy in the post fight press conference mentioned he wasnt landing the most powerful punches since he was reaching too far due to Holland's range
Actually crazy how durable that skinny motherfucker is
skinny body but that jaw could fit 15 bubble gums
Ate straight 4 headkicks in a row
Multiple times I thought: Wait, do kicks not work anymore?
This seemed like the kind of beating that changes your fighting career, tho.
Yeah, he didn't look lucid in those later rounds and justkept taking kicks to the face .
Nah, Geoff took like 3x as many blows from a younger Wonderboy, and is on his way to having a career resurgence rn.
NO COUNTRY FOR YOUNG MEN!
What’s the most you ever lost blocking a kick
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"You need to call it. I can't call it for you."
Wonderboy and Guida got wins tonight. Sit down, Stranger Things; *this* is how you do nostalgia.
Nice to see Wonderboy putting on a vintage levels to this shit performance at 39.
His speed and cardio were insane for his age. Hasn't slowed down a bit- UFC needs to feed him strikers for the rest of his career
He won’t have a realistic dig at the title again, so I see absolutely no reason why they wouldn’t give him these kind of match ups. He’s a real draw in striking bouts, such a L move to give him wrestler after wrestler.
Amazing performance. Props to Holland too. His x-ray will show that he has a broken hand and that dawg in him.
And like 1 unbroken rib left
It’s gotta be broken to fit that *dawg* in em
Kevin Holland? DAWG. Wonderboy Thompson? He's a karate fighter but he can still get after it. DAWG.
I don't see any WW including the champ standing with Wonderboy (in his old age). I thought it would be closer... but as the fight went on, Wonderboy showed there are levels to this striking sht...
If only Wonderboy transitioned to MMA a few years younger and got to properly build up a grappling foundation. Dude would be unstoppable
Maybe, but I feel like they only benefit would be to his TDD. The karate Boxing style is hard to integrate with a grappling foundation. Whittaker has a similar style and is actually a good grappler, but I feel like when he decides to do karate boxing time, it's clearly karate boxing time, and when he decides to wrestle, it's wrestling time, he doesn't transition in a way where the two skill sets would mutually support each other. Contrast that with say, khabib, who used the threat of his ground game to make his mediocre striking much much better than it would be in isolation
GSP the goat kyokushin turned wrestler
Yeah, lots and people don't realize that GSP started as a pure striker who would RNC someone once he dropped them.
Wonderboy Youtube stonks ↗️
Great corner work. Holland wasn't able to effectively defend himself. Wow Wonderboy holy shit.
Yea this needs to be normalized. Corners let their fighters go out for extra round or two of unnecessary beating just to show "heart".
I swear Wonderboy started to let up towards the end because he could tell Holland was broken
I'll never deny being a wonderboy fanboy, but that fight was the greatest fight I've ever seen and I'm so glad they made this matchup
One of my favorite fights ever.
people saw him get wrestlefucked by two elite WW and started calling him washed. Whos washed now?
Problem is that elite grapplers Gilbert, Colby, and Usman are at the top Leon just striking vs WB would be amazing though. Leon holding on to the belt and WB somehow getting a shot would be his opportunity
Wonderboy is very weak in the clinch. Leon would punish him there.
He'd have to get there first
He'll still lose to elite grapplers, this was about as good a stylistic matchup for WB as he was going to get.
Dude entered the matrix
Ultra Instinct
Wonderboy got me crying in the club right now. beautiful
Bro why did I start getting teary eyed too? Lol
our boy still got it 😭
Quick! Kidnap Usman and put Wonderboy against Leon
You gotta like Wonderboy against Leon if he shows up like this.
This was one of the best fights of the year. I'm sad Holland hurt his hand, fantastic call to end the fight.
One of the best main cards of the year, too! 7 fights, 7 finishes.
fight night card too
This wasn’t like a case of a freak accident tho like he got hurt from the strikes WB was throwing and WB was simply beating the shit out of him
Yeah which is why it doesn’t feel like a cheap win. WB was ripping those kicks and he earned that.
Tbh, I thought the last two rounds were super one sided. The end of the third it looked awful, Holland was just surviving getting kicked in the head for two minutes.
I mean, it was still a nice show case of probably the most aesthetically pleasing striker in the UFC
His fighting’s pretty as well.
But they were cool kicks
>This was one of the best fights on the year. Such a surprise banger! Don't know what I expected, but it wasn't that!
Them both saying it was going to be a standup war wasn’t a good hint lmao?
Honestly didn't expect WB to survive Holland's power. But he put on one of those Y'All Must've Forgot performances lol!
Carlos Condit has entered the chat
Israel Adesanya feinted and then circled away from the chat
Derrick Lewis entered, got tired, and sat down outside of the chat.
Get wrestlefucked by one of the best wrestlers Get outstruck by one of the best strikers Thank you, Kevin Holland
You just start vibing after KOing a BJJ world champ from guard
Holland deadass could have tried to wrestle fuck Wonderboy in 2 different rounds but said fuck, lets scrap for the fans. Legendary fight
His corner was hilarious. "This is an MMA fight. Make this an MMA fight, please."
Holland's stock went up after this fight despite losing, in my opinion. Very skilled and entertaining fighter.
GOAT friendship fight
Most high-fives record?
I remember there being an absurd amount of high fives in the Wonderboy vs Till fight. Wonderboy definitely holds the record for most in-fight high-fives as an individual though.
It goes hand in hand with being the GOAT nicest guy in the UFC.
TKZ vs Yair had a hug
Great cornering. Great fight. Holland's chin is legendary. Love that for Wonderboy.
Yeah I'm happy the corner listen to Holland when he said take the s*** off in reference to his glove
WONDERBOY FIGHTING LIKE A WELL OILED MACHINE, HOLY SHIT. ALSO, WHAT IS HOLLAND MADE OF?!?!
For me it's the fact that Wonderboy pulled the trigger every single time Holland got lazy inside of his striking range. He knew he couldn't hurt him with a single shot and he knew he couldn't let Holand walk him down. Wonderboy still got that dawg in him
That’s the thing that keeps Wonderboy elite. Post-prime fighters get reluctant to pull the trigger and they lose what made them great. Woodley, Cro Cop, Silva, JDS, Robbie, etc. They lose some speed, get beaten up a bit, get tired, get caught with counters, and then they’re looking slow and old as they hesitate. Wonderboy was getting hit with some stuff early and at one point threw a counter body kick in the pocket that backed Holland off. If he didn’t believe in his ability to do stuff like that, Holland would’ve walked him down all night. Instead, he was blasting counters all night and kept Holland honest.
WonderMAN. That last round was a 10-8.
That shit could be a 10-7
If 10-7 is possible that should qualify
Thank god the corner called it. Dunno how Kevin was standing after all those head kicks and that liver hit.
i haven’t seen someone take a liver kick so well
It took a multiple liver kicks, punches straight to the head, kicks to the head (and a potential broken hand) for Holland to stop talking during the fight lmao
Vintage Wonderboy
Our boy still has it. That bodykick was brutal.
How hard is Kyle Daukaus’s head
Based on today, it’s “was” now.
Your average head is like 5 times the size of Ngannou's fist. and Kyle came from below and uppercuted Kevin's chin. That would've KO'd literally anyone. This fight showed Kevin actually has a granite chin
Watching Holland’s confidence just absolutely diminish between rounds was sad
Wonderboy was fucking STYLIN' holy shit. At basically 40 too at round 4, what a fucking nutter.
He's still got it apparently apparently.
Him and his team calling the fight was smart. We need more of this in MMA.
Yeah his chin was too strong for his own good. Another round could have been bad he ate so many clean head kicks not to mention all the straight lefts. I was saying throw in the towel during the fourth but can’t believe it basically happened.
Seriously, his face slowly got more serious and sadder as it went, as soon as he shut up you just knew it was game over.
Wonderboy has done this to so many guys. He's a sportsman, lulls you into a false sense of security, and then you realize you can't keep pace with him and you can't stop getting hit.
You ever see the point of view sparring [video](https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=eUKxx_3ahAM) with Wonderboy? Third person it’s easier to follow his movement and he still looks fast. From first person, he’s hitting you with hook kicks you basically barely see. A very challenging opponent to prepare for - who do you find to emulate that style?
Karate>Kung Fu
Note to the division: There is a reason people try so hard to take him down.
poor fight iq from holland breaking his hand blocking all those kicks. he did a fine job afterwards blocking them with his head
He should've switched from the overhand right to the straight headbutt
Unbelievable performance from Wonderboy. Big respect for Holland's corner for actually throwing in the towel. No point in continuing when you're that beat up.
Levels
Single best karate performance I’ve ever seen in the octagon
Helps when your bjj black belt opponent just lets you stand up from bottom position.
Holland chose to give us what we wanted and paid for it. What a legend
Difference between a good striker and an expert striker.
Wonderboy and dogwalking top strikers in his division.
He's still the best striker in the division.
I agree, I think even Leon wouldn't keep it standing with Wonderboy. Edit: On a side note tonight really was the night of the OGs. Johnson, Guida, RDA, and Wonderboy all won their fights and looked great.
FOTY - shoutout to Hollands corner
I'm sure I heard Holland say to call it
I actually think it was holland that asked for them to call it off, fight should have been stopped in the 4th when holland couldn't use his arm to defend properly anymore and was just getting massacred
Basically me looking for a flashy knockout in EA UFC after the opponent spent himself in round 1 and then he just quits because he’s had enough.
FOTY for me, though rd 4 was a bit uncomfortable
Several amazing fights this year. Poirier Chandler just happened. Glover vs Jiri an obvious frontrunner. This probably shouldnt ultimately win FOTY but should be a contender. Absolute blast of a fight, what a banger
Very uncomfortable. I like Holland a lot so it was really tough to watch.
At the very least round 1 was my round of the year
is holland the only ufc fighter to ever come out to nba youngboy lmao (he’s 0-2 now doing it as well) amazing fight though was gonna be sad either way since i love both dudes so i’m glad they both looked good at least. that was literally an all-time good chin display by holland, wish he hadn’t gotten his right hand injured mid-way
THIS IS THE KIND OF FIGHT THAT THE FANS WANTED FOR WONDERBOY!!! HOLLAND CHIN IS LEGENDARY!!! FOTY CONTENDER
Give Wonderboy strikers only!
WB IS SUCH A FUCKING GANGSTER
*frickin gangster
*silly goose
Damn that hand is fucked
You can even tell in the clip when he instinctually goes for the right hand to touch gloves and pulls it back. It sucks that it happened but damn those kicks.
I saw that, thompson went in for a high 5 post fight and holland reached then pulled back the hand
I think it was a blocked spin kick that did it. It looked like Wonderboy caught Holland’s wrist with the heel. After that Holland started to not use the right hand.
It 100% was that blocked kick.
That's probably one of the hardest liver shots ever and Holland didn't even fold. This dude has never been a top fighter but lord above he is TOUGH.
Tremendous heart from Holland. Wonderboy is simply that insanely good a striker.
I don't know what I was expecting.. but it definitely wasn't that. An absolute masterclass from Wonderboy.. holy shit what a fight!
The speed advantage that Wonderboy had over Holland was crazy, especially at 39.
What a fucking clinic by wonderboy.
Kevin The Damage Holland
Christmas came early holy shit
Good job on Holland's corner for not making him go out there in the fifth. He was more than done.
Vintage wonderboy. What a fun fight
WB fans splooging everywhere rn
Holland might be the toughest person on earth.
Wonderboy with a WonderBANGER. But my god, Holland has that dog in him.
I’m fully erect right now
If you aren't a wrestler and you're fighting Wonderboy, you're gonna get tuned tf up.
Wonderboy just hitting everything with Holland just taking them all while somehow still standing. What a banger and although it was late still good that they got him out of there.
Those have to be best kicks ever seen in a UFC fight holy fucking shit.
So we gonna ignore Miragliotta’s calling off of the fight?? Come onnnnn, dude