Kevin Holland showed off all aspects of his MMA game tonight as he dropped Michael Chiesa with a knee and then submitted him with a d’arce choke in the opening round.
Round One:
Chiesa immediately circling on the outside as Holland takes the center of the Octagon.
Holland tries to find a home for an uppercut. He moves in and fires off more uppercuts that look threatening.
Holland moves into range looking for more strikes and then opts to just shove Chiesa to the mat. Holland follows him down to the mat, but doesn’t stay there for long and are soon back to striking range on the feet.
Chiesa picks his moment and then goes for his first takedown attempt. Holland doing well to stay on his feet though and stuffs that, then turns Chiesa into the cage.
Chiesa back in trying for a takedown again and Holland shows good athleticism and balance to keep on his feet.
Chiesa with a flurry of punches as he tries to close the distance, but Holland then fires off a big knee to the head that puts him down, then quickly goes for a d’arce choke submission that leads to a tapout. Big submission win for Holland at 2.39mins of the opening round!
Great performance from Holland who will have been pleased to show off his improved takedown defense and serve up a reminder that he can be a threat with submissions as well as strikes.
As for Chiesa, he tooks his gloves off after the fight, so it could be that this will be the final fight of his career.
