Prediction: Kevin Holland (Winner)<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Holland let a lot of people down with that last performance, but this matchup feels built for him to bounce back. Malott\u2019s a dangerous dude, no question. He’s explosive, great timing early, and has that clean grappling base. But when you line their tools up side by side, Holland\u2019s length, speed, and creativity on the feet just give him more ways to win.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The biggest thing here is range. Holland has a 81-inch reach and one of few fighter that now how to use his reach. When he\u2019s fighting smart, he\u2019ll snipe you from the outside, keep his jab active, and mix in those long kicks that frustrate guys who want to close distance. Malott\u2019s going to have to crash the pocket, and that\u2019s a dangerous game when Holland\u2019s throwing straight down the pipe. Holland\u2019s faster, slicker in exchanges, and his ability to counter while moving backward could end up being a nightmare for Malott.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Then there\u2019s the grappling talk. Everyone points to Holland\u2019s wrestling as his weak point, but that\u2019s mostly been a problem against big, heavy middleweights who could muscle him around. At welterweight, he\u2019s handled strong grapplers fine. He\u2019s a legit black belt and he\u2019s gotten much better about staying composed off his back. Malott\u2019s got good submissions, but it\u2019s not like he\u2019s a relentless chain wrestler. He usually needs to hurt you or catch a slip to get it there. Against someone with Holland\u2019s size and balance, that\u2019s easier said than done.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The wild card is Holland\u2019s mentality. He fights on pure vibes sometimes, and that can backfire. But stylistically, this is the kind of opponent he looks good against: someone who\u2019s powerful but straightforward. Malott\u2019s dangerous early, but if Holland keeps his range, picks him apart, and starts finding his rhythm, he can make this look easy.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Prediction: Kevin Holland (Winner) Holland let a lot of people down with that last performance, but this matchup feels built for him to bounce back. Malott\u2019s a dangerous dude, no question. He’s explosive, great timing early, and has that clean grappling base. But when you line their tools up side…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[12],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-628","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-ufc-vancouver"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/capmma.com\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/628","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/capmma.com\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/capmma.com\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/capmma.com\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/capmma.com\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=628"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/capmma.com\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/628\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":629,"href":"https:\/\/capmma.com\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/628\/revisions\/629"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/capmma.com\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=628"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/capmma.com\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=628"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/capmma.com\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=628"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}