Jacobe Smith has a new wrinkle to add to his grudge with Kevin Holland, and it involves Holland’s mother. Appearing on the Weighing In YouTube show, Smith claimed that Holland’s mom called a manager to stop Holland from fighting him, according to a post from co-host Josh Thomson on X. Smith offered that claim days after he walked through late replacement Bruce Whitehead at UFC 332 and used his post-fight interview to tell Holland exactly what he plans to do to him.
That plan isn’t subtle. “I want to kill Kevin Holland,” Smith told UFC News after the win. “I want to murder Kevin Holland. [He] put me through two fight camps.”
The two camps are the heart of Smith’s complaint. He and Holland were first booked for July, and Holland’s injury pushed the fight to UFC 332 on Oct. 3 at the Delta Center in Salt Lake City. Then Holland withdrew again with an injury, and Whitehead, a UFC newcomer, took the welterweight prelim on short notice. Holland has since been booked against Uros Medic at UFC 334 next month, and that booking is what has Smith fuming.
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“Your foot’s still hurt, but you’re accepting fights with other dudes,” Smith said. “You better hope Uros Medic gets your ass out of there, because if you win, I’m coming for you.”
He also talked about the cost outside the cage, saying he is building a life away from fighting and had to put that on hold to prepare for a fight that got canceled during fight week. In a separate clip posted by MMA Fighting, Smith left the door open for a quicker path: “If Uros Medic pulls out, maybe I get to beat his head in a little bit for making me go through two camps and fights getting cancelled.”
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The Whitehead fight lasted 92 seconds. Smith said afterward he’d been hunting a walk-off knockout, but the canvas was slick, so he dragged Whitehead to the ground and finished the job there. That’s a TKO, and it keeps his record spotless at 13-0, including 4-0 in the UFC with every one of those four wins by stoppage. His warning to whoever’s next, Holland or not, was simple: “You’re gonna have to be ready to f*cking fight if you think you’re gonna step into the cage with Jacobe and make it a full 15 minutes.”
The mom story is Smith’s account, relayed secondhand through a show clip, and Holland hasn’t responded to it in anything I’ve seen. So I’m treating it as trash talk with a claim attached rather than an established fact. The frustration underneath it is easy to understand, though. Two full camps, two cancellations, and a guy who couldn’t make it to Utah ends up booked against someone else a month later. A 13-0 welterweight who finishes everything shouldn’t be stuck taking whoever is available on a few days’ notice. If Holland gets past Medic at UFC 334, the UFC should book Smith next, and nobody should be shocked if it ends early.
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