Derek Brunson made it clear ahead of his UFC Fight Night main event with Kevin Holland that he was out to derail the hype train of another rising star and put himself in control of his future. That's exactly what Brunson did, using constant pressure and grappling to grind out round after round to score a wide unanimous decision victory.
Brunson ultimately spent 15:28 -- more than three rounds of the fight -- in top position on the ground. That started in the opening frame when Holland slipped while throwing a kick, allowing Brunson to set the tone for how the rest of the fight would follow.
When Holland would start to get his offense working a bit, as he did in Round 2, briefly rocking Brunson with a combination on the feet, Brunson would close the distance, establish a clinch and drive the fight right back to the ground.
"I wasn't really too hurt," Brunson said after the fight of the situation in the second round. "He hit me and it was like, 'Oh, OK.' I had his leg in the air and he kept throwing punches there. I was like, 'you have to be a little more composed there.' I got a little out of pocket there, so I had to take it back down. I got the win."
Holland made big waves in 2020, going 5-0 over the course of the year while continuing his style of loudly trash talking throughout the fight. He would continue his talking through the entire five rounds against Brunson, but much of it was done as the fight slipped away and the seconds ticked closer to a Brunson victory.
"I was so busy trying to punch him in the face that I couldn't really hear him talking," Brunson said. "I couldn't pick up on too much, I just wanted to hit him in the mouth while he was talking."
Holland did have one other notable moment of success, becoming the first man to take Brunson down in the UFC. The takedown came off a trip in Round 5, but Holland did little from top position before allowing the fight to return to the feet, even with little question he was heading to a loss on the scorecards. That lack of urgency was on display again as the final 10 seconds ticked away and Holland chose to slowly walk back to his corner rather than emptying the tank before the final horn.
Brunson ultimately scored a career-best six takedowns in the fight before having his hand raised by scores of 49-45, 49-46 and 49-46. The win moved him into a tie for the third most victories in UFC middleweight history.
With the win, Brunson is now riding a four-fight winning streak, dating back to May 2019. One fight prior, Brunson defeated Edmen Shahbazyan, another young fighter behind whom the UFC had thrown considerable promotional muscle.
With two prospects behind him, the 37-year-old stayed on the same track as before the fight, calling for a fight with anyone in the top five of the division.
"Me and [Paulo] Costa is a fight that I'd like to have," Brunson said after pointing out that Costa should be free for a fight in the near future after being forced out of a planned fight with Robert Whittaker due to lingering effects of COVID-19.