TJ Dillashaw, a former UFC champion, knows what it takes to succeed at the highest level and believes he can identify fighters with championship potential.
Unfortunately, he doesn’t see that potential in Kevin Holland.
The retired bantamweight recently shared his perspective following Holland’s loss to Reinier de Ridder at UFC 311 this past Saturday. Holland was submitted in the first round after struggling to counter de Ridder’s grappling, eventually succumbing to a rear-naked choke.
This critique from Dillashaw aligns with Holland’s own remarks on the JAXXON Podcast, where “Trailblazer” admitted that he doesn’t see himself becoming a UFC champion. The ex-titleholder, appearing on the same podcast, weighed in on Holland’s performance against de Ridder and his overall mindset toward the sport.
“He’s fun,” Dillashaw said. “He’s entertaining, he’s fun. … I heard him in here talking — I commented on one of the posts you guys put out there about him not caring about being a champion, saying there’s too much politics in it. Like, alright dude, that’s just an excuse because you’ll never be a champion. But he’s a very entertaining fighter. He talks a lot, but he will never be a champion, I promise you that.”
Dillashaw’s main criticism of Holland centers on what he perceives as a lack of willingness to evolve and improve his game. He pointed to specific moments during Holland’s fight with de Ridder as examples.
“It’s the truth,” Dillashaw explained. “He has some holes in his game, and we saw it here. He’s got a guy on top of him, and he keeps trying to hold him in his guard. Right now, he’s going for attacks — it’s great — but when the attacks stop working, you’ve got to escape and get back to your feet, especially when you’re better on your feet. He doesn’t even try to put his feet on the hips and push off. Later in the fight, RDR’s standing above him doing ground-and-pound, and [Holland] is trying to hold on to guard rather than create space and stand up. That’s basic stuff. It shows he doesn’t have the skills on the ground or the mindset to fight to his strengths.”
Despite the criticisms, Dillashaw clarified that there’s nothing wrong with Holland being satisfied with where he is in his career. However, he stressed that championship success requires a certain obsessive mindset — one he doesn’t see in Holland.
“You sat here and let him say he doesn’t give a shit,” Dillashaw said. “Are you going to be a champion if you don’t care? No, you ain’t ever going to be. You need to obsess about it every day of your life. You need to be OCD about training, about being the best, not losing one practice. He was talking about bringing in training partners, going home, and smoking weed. Just sitting here listening to him talk and watching his skills on TV, he doesn’t have the mindset for it. He’s just happy being on TV.”
