Vicente Luque vs Kevin Holland Booked For UFC 316

A welterweight fight between Vicente Luque and Kevin Holland has been announced for UFC 316 in Newark, New Jersey on June 7th.

The 33-year-old Luque ended last year with a submission victory over Themba Gorimba in just 52 seconds, but it’s not always been as easy as that for ‘The Silent Assassin’ in recent years.

Luque has lost three of his last five fights, and that includes a disturbing knockout loss to Geoff Neal back in 2022 that resulted in a brain hemorrhage.

Thankfully after taking a year out, Luque was able to make a comeback, but while he did pick up a confidence-boosting win over Rafael dos Anjos in his next fight, he was then TKO’d by Joaquin Buckley in March of last year.

It’s left Luque clinging onto a spot on the 170lb rankings at No.14 as he now prepares to fight the 32-year-old Holland, who claimed a unanimous decision victory against Gunnar Nelson last month.

Like Luque, Holland’s overall form in recent times has been mixed, having also gone 2-3 in his last five Octagon appearances, including being TKO’d by Roman Dolidze last October and submitted by Reiner de Ridder early this year.

Luque vs. Holland joins a UFC 316 card that will be headlined by a bantamweight title fight rematch between current champion Merab Dvalishvili and Sean O’Malley, with a women’s bantamweight fight between Julianna Pena and Kayla Harrison serving as the co-main event.