This week’s installment of UFC on ESPN is set for Saturday night from the UFC APEX arena in Las Vegas, and the main event features Derek Brunson taking on Kevin Holland in a middleweight fight. The co-main event will pit Gregor Gillespie against Brad Riddell in a lightweight bout. You can catch the main card on ESPN, with the preliminary fights set for ESPN2.
Don’t miss our UFC betting picks for the big fights.
UFC on ESPN 21: Brunson vs Holland Preview
Main Card (ESPN)
- Derek Brunson vs Kevin Holland (Middleweight)
- Gregor Gillespie vs Brad Riddell (Lightweight)
- Cheyanne BUys vs Montserrat Ruiz (Women’s Strawweight)
- Adrian Yanez vs Gustavo Lopez (Bantamweight)
- Song Kenan vs Max Griffin (Welterweight)
- Tai Tuivasa vs Harry Hunsucker (Heavyweight)
Preliminary Card (ESPN2)
- Marion Reneau vs Macy Chiasson (Women’s Bantamweight)
- Leonardo Santos vs Grant Dawson (Lightweight)
- Trevin Giles vs Roman Dolidze (Middleweight)
- Montel Jackson vs Jesse Strader (Bantamweight)
- J.P. Buys vs Bruno Gustavo da Silva (Flyweight)
Derek Brunson (21-7, 12-5 UFC, +140) vs Kevin Holland (21-5, 8-2 UFC, -160) gives us two UFC veterans. At 37, Brunson may be reinventing himself yet again, as he started out as a wrestler committed to getting his opponent on the floor, but then he built his striking to the point where he was delivering first-round knockouts. That approach did not work for him in a main event loss to Robert Whittaker, who just waited for a hole to open in Brunson’s defense, delivered a big bomb and then brought the finish. When he beat Ian Heinisch in 2019, though, it looked as though he had finally put together a defensive strategy, and he showed that again in August of last year, when he delivered a third-round stoppage over Edmen Shahbazyan, turning his opponent’s pressure around.
His next test is Holland, who has shown a great deal of talent — which means that he has a lot of choices as to his approach, but he does not always choose wisely. This saw him go for a triangle choke in his UFC debut against Thiago Santos, which did not end well, and it saw him try to get Brendan Allen to the ground, only to get submitted. However, in seven months in 2020, he fought five times, building on each success, and he knocked out Ronaldo Souza in his last fight — while Holland was on his back. Holland likes to talk to his opponents during fights, and he could get inside Brunson’s head. However, Brunson has the skills and the wisdom to avoid that, and he should deliver the bigger bombs.
Final Prediction: Brunson wins via decision
Gregor Gillespie (13-1, 6-1 UFC, -245) vs Brad Riddell (9-1, 3-0 UFC, +205) is Gillespie’s latest shot at redemption. At this point in 2019, he was about to enter the ranks of lightweight contenders, using his speed and compact size to bring pressure and work for takedowns. This led to him taking damage, but the approach seemed sound. However, when he took on Kevin Lee, he took a more cautious approach, but it did not pay off, as Lee delivered a vivid knockout in the first round. Since then, Gillespie has been a bit below the UFC’s notice.
His next fight is a matchup with a new prospect in Riddell, from New Zealand. He transitioned from City Kickboxing to MMA and has had success doing it. In his second UFC fight, he was put up against Magomed Mustafaev, and he won easily. His last fight saw him take down Alex da Silva Coelho. Riddell’s defense in the wrestling game is well above average, but da Silva was able to stack up some early points on takedowns, even though Riddell came back to win on the cards. Gillespie has not fought since that knockout against Lee, so it will be interesting to see if he tries the cautious approach one more time, wanting to avoid the brutal knockout that came in his last fight. Given the amount of time he has had off, there is no reason to think that Gillespie did not learn from his earlier mistake.
Final Prediction: Gillespie wins via decision
