Midnight Mania! Holland Explains Beef With ‘F—king Crazy’ Strickland

Welcome to Midnight Mania!

Kevin Holland is no stranger to a bit of trash talk. Though he’s set to make his Welterweight debut on March 5, Holland rose to prominence in 2020 as Middleweight’s premier loud mouth. However, he struggled last year, prompting the drop in weight class. Meanwhile, Sean Strickland put together the best run of his pro career, talking a whole bunch of nonsense in the process. Somewhere in the middle, the pair crossed paths, exchanged words, and now, there’s a fair bit of beef between them.

It’s not exactly shocking given the personalities of either man. After his main event win vs. Jack Hermansson, Strickland claimed that the beef began when Holland puffed his chest out at “Tarzan.” Now, Holland is ready to give his side of the story.

“I seen him at the P.I.,” Holland began (via MMAJunkie). “He had seen some stuff online about murdering me, or something like that, if we ever had a fight. So when I saw him, I was just checking his energy. He said I had my chest poked out. As you guys see me on camera all the time, I have a bird chest. It’s kind of hard to poke this thing out. I walked up to the man. I wasn’t trying to say nothing to him. He was speaking to me like we were friends or something. I was just looking at him like he was f—king crazy.

“He said something stupid, so I probably said something stupid back. A little words got exchanged. He said something about going to the parking lot. But if I’m not mistaken, there is a full-blown octagon and a boxing ring upstairs and we could easily make it a sparring session. That way, the UFC doesn’t lose money by somebody getting their head bashed in in the parking lot. I’m just saying, hypothetically speaking, of course.”

At the moment, Holland and Strickland are not on a collision course. Holland is about to try his hand at a new weight class, whereas Strickland is closing in on a title shot. If Strickland were to take a loss in the near future, however? “Trailblazer” would be happy to jump right back up to Middleweight for a chance to throw down.

“I’d love to do that fight,” Holland said. “Sean is on a really good winning streak right now. Sean is doing really good waves in the middleweight division. I’m not a dummy. We all know Sean is probably close to a title shot. There’s not very many people for Izzy to fight at 185. Once Izzy knocks him the f—k out and he needs a rebound fight, here I am, baby – another tall, lanky guy ready to take that ass.”

Insomnia

Further information on the unfortunate injury that forced Beneil Dariush out of his main event vs. Islam Makhachev:

Per Beneil Dariush (@beneildariush), the injury he suffered on Tuesday is a broken fibula bone. Still no timeframe for his recovery. Surgery may be necessary, but he is still weighing options on treatment.

— Brett Okamoto (@bokamotoESPN) February 17, 2022

The first faceoff between Johnny Walker and Jamahal Hill:

I’m not touching the trucker convoy controversy with a ten foot poll, but regardless, Tanner Boser is on the hunt to fight a troll.

This guy sent this to me at like 1:00am and then blocked me. If you find that courage again, sure. Sounds like you’re from Alberta. You can drive to Edmonton. You will sign a waiver. We will “spar”. Holland is a nice guy, I’m not. It will not be recorded. Someone pls let him know pic.twitter.com/RZzkPnjolU

— Tanner Boser (@BulldozerBoser) February 17, 2022