Jacobe Smith had barely finished celebrating his latest knockout before he turned his attention to the man who wasn’t there. The undefeated welterweight told UFC.com after his win at UFC 332 that he has no patience left for Kevin Holland, who withdrew from their booked fight twice and left Smith grinding through two full training camps for a matchup that never happened.
“I want to kill Kevin Holland,” Smith said. “I want to murder Kevin Holland. He put me through two fight camps.”
He went on to explain what those camps cost him away from the gym. “I’m setting up my life outside of fighting, too, and for me to put that on pause to set up a fight, and then you cancel the fight week and get us to reschedule,” Smith said, before finishing the thought: “you accepted two times, and then you don’t show up to Utah.”
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The history, as MMA Mania laid it out, goes like this. Smith and Holland were first booked for UFC Oklahoma City in July, which would have put Smith in front of a home-state crowd. Holland got hurt and pulled out a week before fight night, and the bout was scrapped entirely. It was then rescheduled for a date that was never made public (UFC 332 was a possibility), and Holland withdrew a second time, this time with a foot injury.
Smith took a fight with late-notice replacement Bruce Whitehead instead, and he made quick work of it. On Oct. 3 at Delta Center in Salt Lake City, he slammed Whitehead to the canvas and put him out with ground-and-pound in 92 seconds. That moved him to 13-0 overall and 4-0 in the UFC, with all four of those octagon wins coming by finish.
What stings for Smith is that Holland already has his next fight lined up. The 33-year-old is set to meet knockout artist Uros Medic at UFC 334 on Nov. 14 at Madison Square Garden in New York City. Smith didn’t miss the timing.
“Your foot’s still hurt, but you’re accepting fights with other dudes,” he said. “You better hope Uros Medic gets your ass out of there, because if you win, I’m coming for you.”
The feud started earlier this year. After Smith beat Josiah Harrell at UFC Houston, Daniel Cormier told the former NCAA Division I wrestler that Holland would “whoop his ass,” and Smith promptly called Holland out. Holland said yes. Eight months later, they still haven’t stood across from each other. Holland, for his part, carries real weight as a name, with 16 UFC wins that tie him with Brendan Allen for the most of any Dana White’s Contender Series alum, according to MMA Junkie’s numbers.
I’m usually the first to groan when a prospect starts acting like a contender, but Smith’s anger is earned. A fighter four wins into his UFC run loses something real when two camps evaporate, and his complaint comes down to time, money and a life put on hold twice. The Holland fight was always the right test for him, a veteran who can make a wrestler pay for every lazy entry, and it still is. Medic is a genuine threat, though, so Smith’s grudge now depends on Holland getting through Nov. 14 in one piece.
