Kevin Holland says he will work on his wrestling with Daniel Cormier at AKA

UFC middleweight contender Kevin Holland says that he will work on his wrestling with Daniel Cormier at American Kickboxing Academy.

For the second straight fight, Holland was taken down and wrestled as the blueprint to defeat “Trailblazer” is obvious at this point. After losing a unanimous decision to Derek Brunson last month, Holland tried to capitalize on a short-notice opportunity by fighting Mervin Vettori on short notice at UFC Vegas 23. But just like the Brunson fight, the Vettori matchup once again displayed Holland’s weakness in his takedown defense. As gifted as he is with his hands and his submissions, his wrestling is the biggest hole in his game.

Following UFC Vegas 23, Holland spoke with reporter Megan Olivi and confirmed that he is planning on taking a trip to AKA in San Jose, California, to train wrestling with Cormier. While Holland isn’t planning to make drastic changes to his overall game, he knows that the lack of wrestling and his poor takedown defense is something that he needs to fix.

“Can’t say too much changes. We’ll see, I honestly don’t know. Go spend some time with DC (Daniel Cormier), for sure, work on some of that wrestling. Go work on wrestling, learn to stop some of these takedowns. Other than that, same old same,” Holland said (h/t MMAMania.com).

“I’m not gonna change the fighter I am and try and become a wrestler just cuz these guys wanna wrestle. I like to strike, I like to bang. I just do a better job at keeping the fight on the feet and deliver some more knockouts to the people and that way they’ll be back on the bandwagon, sooner or later.”

Do you think Kevin Holland should consider a weight class move after losing two straight fights after being outmuscled? Or will working his wrestling with Daniel Cormier be enough?