UFC middleweight Joseph Holmes said he was assaulted after an altercation with fellow octagon middleweight Kevin Holland at a regional fight card on Friday night.
In a video posted to Instagram, Holmes said he and Holland were in attendance for XKO 60 in Dallas. After the event was over, he said he and Holland got into an altercation, and he alleged some of Holland’s teammates then assaulted him.
“I just got freaking jumped!” Holmes said on his Instagram. “I can’t think of the last time I got jumped. And where my people at? None of y’all around me backing me up. None of you… I got jumped.
“They beat me up, they beat me down, the stomped on me when I was down. F*** Kevin Holland. F*** that guy. …”
Holland and reps could not be reached for comment. On Instagram, however, the veteran UFC middleweight accused Holmes’ team of attacking him in a previous altercation.
:format(webp):no_upscale()/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_asset/file/24392577/Screenshot_20230128_101037.png "UFC vet Joseph Holmes alleges he was ‘freaking jumped’ after altercation with Kevin Holland 1")
“Y’all team [jumped] me like six years back. I smacked y’all, quit tweaking.”
A message to Holmes’ management firm, Iridium Sports Agency, was not immediately returned, and the promoter of Xtreme Knockout did not return a request for comment.
Holmes said the altercation took place just before he left the event and involved several of Holland’s friends, one of whom he said he had previously feuded over a romantic relationship involving one of Holland’s relatives.
“We were at XKO at the Statler in downtown, I’m walking through the venue, and me and Kevin already don’t get along,” Holmes said. “Kevin Holland. So I’m walking through the venue, he ends up being in front of me, I make quick eye contact, continue on my way, don’t say a word. Don’t touch him, don’t look at him, nothing.
“So then, literally less than 10 minutes later, me and my girl were about to leave, for a quick second I’m like, ‘Shoot, I just left my clothes upstairs,’ because I changed clothes. I got back to run upstairs where my fighter was, to grab my clothes that I left, and I see Kevin Holland coming down the stairs. I’m walking up the stairs, he’s coming down the stairs, he literally stops in front of me, looking at me, and he looks at me and reaches his hands out, like he’s stopping me from walking upstairs, and then grabs on my f****** arm.
“So what am I going to do? [Sweeping his arms] I’m like, ‘Nah, n****, get your hands off me,’ and I back him up, like hell nah, you ain’t about to be grabbing on me. Then this n****, pop, pop, pop, and the next thing you know I’m getting punched in the back of my f****** head. And I’m sitting there like, ‘What the f***?!’ Next thing you know my glasses get tossed across the room, my earphones get tossed off me, I’m just standing there confused. Like, ‘What the f*** did I do?’ I’m just trying to walk up some stairs.
“Next thing you know, Kevin’s in front of me, his boys are like looking all tough because they just punched me in the back of my head, I’m like this [covering his head], I’m eating the punches trying not to get hit hard, and Kevin’s like, ‘Stop hitting him,’ so they stop hitting me and I’m standing there like, ‘Yo, what the f***?!’ Security is walking up, ‘Calm down, calm down.’ N**** what the f*** do you mean, calm down? I just got jumped in front of you and all you have to say is for me to calm down? B****-ass n*****, do your job! Go over there and take somebody to jail, put somebody in some god damn handcuffs or something! I just got jumped, and you’ve got me standing right next to the people who jumped me telling me to calm down.
“So after being attacked, all the security is now surrounding me, after I’m the one that was attacked, and I’m like, you know what, ‘Y’all are right. I’m going to be the bigger person. Totally fine,’” Holmes said. “I look at Kevin and I was like, ‘Sign the contract when it comes.’ We’re going to send you a contract, sign it when it gets there. Because you’re acting all big and bad and tough, meanwhile your boyfriends are just hitting me in the back of the head, for what? Make sure you sign the f****** contract.”
Holmes clarified that he was struck by Holland’s companions and not Holland. He alleged he was struck by a relative of Holland who’d dated the same woman.
Even still, Holmes wants to use the incident to settle his beef with Holland inside the octagon.
Holland posted a response to Holmes’ callout on his Instagram story, saying that the UFC won’t let them fight but offering Holmes a $20,000 sparring wager.
:format(webp):no_upscale()/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_asset/file/24392618/File.jpg "UFC vet Joseph Holmes alleges he was ‘freaking jumped’ after altercation with Kevin Holland 2")
“Let’s be real, they won’t let me fight dude, but you can put 20k on sparring. My gym. Piss or get off the pot.”
Holmes has a professional MMA record of 8-3, most recently losing to Jun Yong Park at UFC Vegas 63 in October. Holland, meanwhile, has an overall record of 23-9 with 1 no-contest, recently falling short to Stephen Thompson at UFC Orlando in December.
Holland is currently scheduled to face Santiago Ponzinibbio at UFC 287 on April 8.
UPDATE: Holland has responded to Holmes’ Instagram video with his side of the story on the altercation.
“He didn’t want to walk to the other side of the stairs where the guy he was beefing with was, so he walked to my side of the stairs, like I was going to move,” Holland said. “I was like, ‘Bro, chill out.’ As soon as I put my hand up to say chill out, he grabbed me. As soon as he grabbed me, we almost went flying down the stairs – quick reactions, neither one of us fell over. By the time I go to fix my coat, I don’t know what happened.
“He was [making noise] all this stuff he talks about. I don’t remember none of this stuff. All I remember is him getting in a fight, and me breaking it up. So, sounds good, that’s the part of the story that sticks. All that other stuff that’s going on, that’s drama that you have with another man, that’s between you and another man. Don’t put me in it, dog. Don’t use my name for clout, don’t put me in your BS.”
Holland reiterated his offer to spar Holmes’ under any ruleset for a $20,000 prize at his gym.
“Whatever you want to do, bro,” he said. “Whatever makes you feel better, I’m cool with that, because at the end of the day, we’re martial artists. But getting online and crying about getting in a fight with somebody when you’re a fighter makes no f****** sense. Get over it bro. You and another man got in a fight. … I stopped you from getting your ass whupped. Be happy about that.”
