Kevin Holland Reveals Real Reason Why Fight Against Jack Della Maddalena Wasn't Booked For UFC 293 In Sydney

Many fans were surprised when a welterweight bout between Kevin Holland and Jack Della Maddalena was booked for September 16 rather than at UFC 293 in Sydney, but after his last fight Holland apparently told the promotion he wasn’t interested in heading to Australia. 

“Trailblazer” ended last year with back-to-back losses but has already collected two stoppage wins this year after he defeated Santiago Ponzinibbio and Michael Chiesa. The 30-year-old is now set to meet Della Maddalena in a bout that will have significant implications for the UFC’s welterweight division and will be the Australian’s biggest test since he debuted in the promotion last year.

Della Maddalena would have been a massive addition for the UFC’s return to Sydney, but Holland recently told Michael Bisping that he’d always been more interested in the Fight Night event on September 16 rather than UFC 293.

“They said something to me about the Sydney card as soon as I got done fighting Chiesa,” Holland explained. “They offered me something about the Australia card and I kind of made it known that I wasn’t trying to do that right away…I originally wanted to fight on [September 16] when I [saw] that Kelvin Gastelum had pulled out…So I wanted to step in and fight that one against Shavkat [Rakhmonov]…That didn’t [pan] out. My manager didn’t tell me whether I was fighting Shavkat or JDM, so I just get kept training.”

Kevin Holland Reveals Reason He Didn’t Want To Fight In Australia

Bisping made the trip to Australia to fight during his own career with the UFC, and when the former champion asked if Holland didn’t want to deal with the lengthy flight the 30-year-old provided an unexpected response.

Holland is coming off a submission win at UFC 291. (Jeff Swinger/USA TODAY Sports)

“Taxes, it’s all about taxes bruh. At the end of the day I’m a businessman. I gotta take care of my business, I gotta take care of my family. And taking care of the family means not paying too much money in taxes at the end of the year. I pay in America well, it’s kinda hard to pay anywhere else when it’s already so much.”

Della Maddalena was booked to meet Sean Brady at UFC 290, but after Brady was forced to withdraw the Australian was matched with UFC debutant Josiah Harrell. That bout also fell apart due to Harrell’s pre-fight medical screening, however Della Maddalena did end up fighting the following weekend and won a split decision against another debuting fighter in Bassil Hafez.

The performance against Hafez disappointed quite a few fans considering how dominant Della Maddalena had been in the UFC up to that point, but he’ll have a chance to prove whether he belongs among the promotion’s welterweight elite when he and Holland square off next month.

Read Also: Paul Felder ‘Irritated’ By Kevin Holland’s Post-UFC 291 Remarks: ‘Not Your Freakin’ Place To Talk About Such Things’

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