Wonderboy has shows if you strike you probably will lose. Holland seems too proud to shoot considering he wanted this fight because they have both been in the same situation where people are shooting as soon as the fight starts when they want to strike. Would be a good idea for Holland but I have a feeling he will want to prove himself standing.
I don't know. For all of Holland's talk of not liking to wrestle and wanting to give Wonderboy the striking match he wants, Kev has a track record of shooting on guys when he gets uncomfortable on the feet. For instance, look at the John Philips fight. One of the worst defensive grapplers ever signed in the modern era of the UFC, but he had hammers for hands. He hit Kevin a couple of times clean and immediately Kevin spent the next three rounds wrestle-fucking him before finally sinking in the RNC in the third. The funny part was he was talking to John the entire time, apologizing profusely as he tuned him up on the mat saying stuff like
"I'm sorry I lied bro. You just hit too damn hard." It's even more funny because the bout after this one against GM3 (who arguably got robbed) he got on the mic in the post-fight interview to talk about how the UFC needs to stop giving him guys who just want to cuddle on the ground and instead give him a real killer he can strike with instead.
Hell, Charlie Ontiveros is a career Lightweight and an absolute kill-or-be-killed can who was signed for the express purpose of giving Kevin a short-notice fill-in opponent to keep his 2020 Middleweight streak alive. Despite being up two weight classes Ontiveros is exceptionally tall and lanky and comes from a karate background. He came out and tagged Holland with a series of clean, flashy kicks. Holland said "Fuck this" and proceeded to pick Charlie up and slam him, injuring dude's neck.
I think Holland will entertain the striking as long as he can, but if/when Wonderboy starts out-pointing him and making him uncomfortable he'll inevitably shoot. He's done it before and he's put in even more time drilling his wrestling since then under Hendricks. Thompson's defensive grappling is proven liability as of late. Why not go that route if it means avoiding a loss and getting into the rankings?
I'm not saying Kevin
can't win a striking match. He does have greater power, reach, and athleticism. The Pettis and Woodley bouts showed that guys with a certain degree of unorthodoxy and off-beat timing in their shots can catch Wonderboy clean, which Kevin could probably replicate to hurt or even finish this version of Stephen if he comes correct especially if he's diligent with low kicks beforehand. That said, for the most part so few guys have had success striking with Thompson for 15-25 minutes in the UFC, even other dedicated strikers and bits of Holland's game has made me wonder if perhaps maybe Thompson's style might give
him issues on the feet as well.
