Coach explains how Kevin Holland developed a dislike for Jorge Masvidal: “He didn’t like the sucker punch deal with Leon”

Coach Durwyn Lamb explains how Kevin Holland developed a strong dislike for Jorge Masvidal ahead of UFC 287.

Both Jorge Masvidal and Kevin Holland will be fighting this Saturday night, April 8th at UFC 287 which takes place at the Kaseya Center in Miami, Florida. They will however not be fighting each other in the Octagon.

Jorge Masvidal (35-16 MMA) will be getting into the cage with Gilbert Burns (21-5 MMA) in a welterweight match-up.

Welterweight Kevin Holland (23-9 MMA) will be battling it out with Santiago Ponzinibbio (30-6 MMA) in the Octagon.

Heading into their respective fights, Masvidal and Holland got into an argument at the host hotel for UFC 287 this week and had to be separated by security before the verbal altercation turned physical (see that here).

Durwyn Lamb, Kevin Holland’s longtime striking coach, recently offered up his thoughts on the beef between Holland and Masvidal.

Lamb sat down with ‘InsideFighting’, explaining his understanding of the dislike between the two heavyweights (h/t MMANews):

“I don’t know much about it. I just know that they did run into each other, and there were some words exchanged. I think that the background was that, you know, Kevin actually kinda liked Masvidal before that, but I think what happened was that with Masvidal, he didn’t like the sucker punch deal with Leon (Edwards) and stuff, he didn’t like the stuff with Colby Covington and he just kinda like, rubbed it the wrong way man. So it changed his view of him, and that’s kind of how that started with him, some words exchanged online, here and there, back and forth, and then they just ran into each other.”

Apparently Holland’s dislike for Masvidal goes back to 2019 when it was ‘Gamebred’ who sucker punched Leon Edwards in a backstage altercation at London’s O2 Arena. Following that incident, Masvidal got into an altercation with Colby Covington at a steakhouse in Miami Beach, Florida in March of last year.

So while they can’t take their frustrations out on each other in the Octagon this Saturday, they will be focusing on challenging and defeating their respective opponents.

Will you be watching? What are your predictions for Masvidal vs. Burns and Holland vs. Ponzinibbio?

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