Kevin Holland suffers three broken knuckles in defeat to Stephen Thompson at UFC Orlando
Kevin Holland battled former two-time UFC welterweight title challenger Stephen Thompson in last nights main event of the evening at UFC on ESPN 42, and suffered a pretty gruesome hand injury in the process.
Following four rounds of all-out action between the two, Kevin Holland’s corner decided to throw in the towel and save their fighter from taking more damage.
In his post-fight interview with Daniel Cormier, Holland stated that he injured his hand in the opening round:
“I think I hurt him in the first round and after that it was hurting. It is what it is.”
Holland’s manager, Oren Hodak, had the following to say on the matter:
“(Holland) Broke his right hand landing a cross in the first round. (His) Hand is very swollen, (and Holland is) being transported to the hospital. Congrats to (Thompson) and team.”
Holland got his full diagnosis a few hours later, where he stated: “Hard head brother lol. I broke not one, but three knuckles on it. Respect.”
Ironically, Thompson also stated that his hands hurt in his post-fight interview following their 20-minute war:
“He’s tough as nails. I mean, both of my hands hurt right now because of his hard noggin. But Kevin Holland is a beast.”
Thompson also partially landed a number of round kicks to the head of Holland, we say partially because Holland absorbed much of the impact from them on that same right hand. That couldn’t have helped matters any.
Stephen ‘Wonderboy’ Thompson continues to show he’s still one the best fighters in the world at 170 lbs with this victory.
At 39 years of age, that’s an incredibly impressive feat.
As for Kevin Holland, he’ll need some time away to heal his hand before likely returning mid-2023.
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