Kevin Holland Defeats Gunnar Nelson By Decision At UFC Fight Night 255

Kevin Holland managed to stay more active than Gunnar Nelson tonight at UFC Fight Night 255 despite frequently having to fight off his back, and having also dropped him late in the first round that led him to a unanimous decision victory.

Round One

Inside leg kicks from Holland. Nelson darts forward with a flurry but doesn’t find the target. Kick high to the body from Holland. He lands a lengthy right hand.

Calf kick from Nelson and Holland threatened with a counter punch. Nelson swiftly moves in for takedown and lands it. Holland working for an omaplata. Bit of a stalemate position and then Nelson just opts to stand up with Holland still hanging onto his arm. They even have time to share a smile and a brief chat from this unusual position before Nelson manages to go back down while freeing himself from the omaplata.

Nelson posturing up, but it’s Holland whose looking to land the occasional strike. In the final minute now and Nelson lands an elbow, but little else. late in the round he’s trying to work for a submission, but Holland does well to scramble back to his feet.

Holland lands a one-two that drops Nelson and then throws some hard ground-and-pound blows afterwards. Nelson survives, but goes back to his corner on wobbly legs.

Round Two

They go into the clinch early in the second round, with Holland pressing Nelson into the cage. Nelson breaks free.

Inside low kick from Holland. Nelson finding Holland’s reach tricky to deal with here so he clinches up and starts working for a takedown. He almost gets it, but Holland shows good balance to stay upright.

Nelson working hard for another takedown now, but again Holland defends well. Nelson drives him into the cage again, but takes his time. Eventually he tries again for a takedown, pulling Holland away from the cage in the process and this time he does land it.

Two minutes to work here in the center of the Octagon. Nelson postures up and then tries to pass guard, but Holland gets him in his full guard and lands a few punches from his back.

Nelson inactive on top again, with Holland being the only one really working offense here. Holland attempts an omaplata but doesn’t get it. He partially lands an upkick before Nelson gets back on top without mounting any sort of offense.

Round Three

Leg kick for Holland. Nelson clinches up and Holland lands good knees to the body. Nelson with a few uppercuts. Another knee from Holland. Now an elbow from Holland.

Nelson in for a takedown against the cage. He lands it and this time gets into full mount. This is better from Nelson, but he has to be active now. However, Holland scrambles and manages to get out of the mount. Holland using his long limbs to thwart Nelson from making progress and then looks for a few kicks.

Nelson finally lands a good strike. Now he looks to improve his position and shows off his grappling skill to set up an arm triangle submission. He isn’t able to move off to the side though to finish this off. He’s trying though, but again Holland manages to scramble well to not only escape but also stand back up.

In close Holland threatens with a knee. Nelson clinching again and Holland fires off a knee again. Nelson trying for a takedown but doesn’t get it. They continue to work in this clinch against the cage. 20 seconds remaining. Nothing happening from here so Nelson gives up on that and manages to catch Holland with an uppercut that knocks him to the mat. There’s not enough time left for him to capitalize on that though.

Decision

Nelson committed to getting this fight to the mat throughout the three rounds, but lacked a cutting edge when he did so, and that proved to be a big problem, particularly when Holland got back to his feet late in the first round and dropped him with a right hand. Holland continued to stay the more active of the two offensively in the rounds that followed as well as showing off improved takedown and grappling defense against the seemingly ring-rusty Nelson to secure a unanimous decision victory (29-28 x3).