Kevin Holland returns to middleweight, meets Michal Oleksiejczuk at UFC 302 in Newark
It’s been a few years, but Kevin Holland will try to right his ship at middleweight at UFC 302.
Holland (25-11 MMA, 12-8 UFC) will move up from welterweight to meet Michal Oleksiejczuk (19-7 MMA, 7-5 UFC) at 185 pounds when the UFC returns to New Jersey next month. Promotion officials announced the new booking during the UFC on ESPN 56 broadcast from St. Louis.
UFC 302 (pay-per-view, ESPN, ESPN+) takes place June 1 at Prudential Center in Newark, N.J.
Holland has back-to-back losses to Jack Della Maddalena and Michael Page, both by decision, at welterweight. Those setbacks came on the heels of two of the biggest wins of his career – stoppages of Santiago Ponzinibbio and Michael Chiesa, the latter of which was a bonus winner at UFC 291 10 months ago.
Oleksiejczuk is just a couple months removed from a 61-second submission loss to Michel Pereira at UFC 299 in Miami. He was looking to put together a winning streak after a bonus-winning first-round TKO of Chidi Njokuani in August 2023, but now will have to try to avoid his first losing skid since 2019-2020.
