Following his first-round submission win over Michal Oleksiejczuk at UFC 302, Kevin Holland apologized to Donald Trump for feeling ignored earlier.
Holland survived a knockdown by Oleksiejczuk and scored an armbar that appeared to injure the Pole’s arm, forcing referee Herb Dean to step in at 1 minute, 34 seconds into the first round. “The Trailblazer” promptly hopped out of the Octagon to address Trump, who was attending the event at the Prudential Center in Newark, New Jersey.
Holland later revealed that he had indeed apologized for not greeting Trump earlier. Holland said his first instinct is always to address the UFC executives sitting cageside.
“I apologized to him for not talking to him the first time I jumped out of the cage when he was there,” Holland said at the post-fight media gathering. “No disrespect to anybody, but the person that signs my checks is the first person I’m going to talk to, you know what I mean, Dana. [White]Hunter [Campbell] They sign my checks.”
Holland was referring to UFC 287 in April 2023, where Israel Adesanya avenged three losses to Alex Pereira in the main event with a knockout. Trump, known for his frequent appearances at UFC’s major pay-per-views, was in attendance at the event, which took place at the Caseya Center in Miami, Florida. Holland also showed off some impressive striking on his way to a third-round knockout win over Santiago Ponzinibbio on the same card. Holland also hopped the Octagon that time, but spoke only to White, as Trump was seated next to the UFC CEO.
