Jacobe Smith says he'd 'drag Kevin Holland's ass down to Dallas' after beating Randy Brown
The welterweight, now 14-0, also named Sean Brady and Belal Muhammad when asked how he wants 2027 to look, but said he is not confident the UFC will book Holland.
Jacobe Smith named Kevin Holland as the fight he wants next, speaking at the UFC Vegas 123 post-fight press conference after his unanimous decision win over Randy Brown in Las Vegas on Saturday night.
Asked how he wants 2027 to look, Smith put Holland first. "If it was up to me, I'd drag Kevin Holland's ass down to Dallas and beat his ass. And then after that, get somebody like Sean Brady," he said. After Brady he named Belal Muhammad, the former welterweight champion, saying "maybe Belal, somebody like that in there, just to have an ex-champ on my resume". After that, he said, he would "see who got the belt at the time".
Asked whether he was confident the UFC would book the Holland fight, Smith said: "I'm not confident. I just, you got to speak shit into existence."
Smith and Holland were scheduled to fight at UFC Oklahoma City in July, but Holland withdrew with an injury. Before the Brown fight, Smith said he was "bound to smack" Holland if he saw him outside the cage. Holland is booked to face Uros Medic at UFC 334 on 14 November. Brady, who has said a staph infection forced him out of UFC Vegas 124, is targeting the UFC's 16 January card in Dallas.
All three judges scored Saturday's fight 30-26 for Smith, who replaced the injured Carlos Leal as Brown's opponent about four weeks after his win at UFC 332. Smith said he had wanted to keep his finishing streak going and dismissed talk about his gas tank. He said a version of himself with a camp of five or six weeks would be levels above the one who fought Brown, and that with up to eight weeks to prepare he could contend for a belt.
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