Kevin Holland vs. Vicente Luque added to UFC 316 in Newark
Kevin Holland vs. Vicente Luque added to UFC 316 in Newark
Another banger on paper has been added to the UFC's return to New Jersey in June.
Kevin Holland (27-13 MMA, 14-10 UFC) is set to take on Vicente Luque (23-10-1 MMA, 16-6 UFC) in a welterweight showdown at UFC 316 (pay-per-view, ESPN, ESPN+), which is set for June 7 at Prudential Center in Newark. UFC officials announced the matchup Friday.
UFC 316 is set to be headlined by a bantamweight title rematch between champ Merab Dvalishvili and former titleholder Sean O'Malley. In the co-feature, women's bantamweight champion Julianna Peña meets two-time Olympic gold medalist and two-time PFL champ Kayla Harrison, who is a massive betting favorite in the fight as the challenger. The Holland-Luque placement on the card has not yet been revealed.
Holland got back in the win column less than a month ago with a Performance of the Night bonus-winning victory over Gunnar Nelson. It was a rare time when a performance bonus was given to someone who won by decision. That snapped a two-fight skid of first-round stoppage losses for the 32-year-old Fortis MMA product against Reinier de Ridder and Roman Dolidze.
Holland is one of the busiest fighters in the promotion. The bout against Luque will be his 12th in a three-year stretch. He has nine career post-fight bonuses, and has gotten one in each of his past three victories.
Luque is coming off a bounce-back win, as well. This past December, he picked up a no-brainer post-fight bonus for a 52-second brutal anaconda choke submission of Themba Gorimbo at UFC 310. That got him back on the right side of things after a second-round TKO loss to Joaquin Buckley a little more than a year ago.
Like Holland, Luque, 33, has nine career post-fight bonuses in the UFC. Although he's Brazilian, the Newark show is something of a homecoming for Luque – who actually was born in New Jersey.
With the addition, the UFC 316 lineup now includes:
Champ Merab Dvalishvili vs. Sean O'Malley – for bantamweight title
Champ Julianna Peña vs. Kayla Harrison – for women's bantamweight title
Kevin Holland vs. Vicente Luque
Kelvin Gastelum vs. Joe Pyfer
Azamat Murzakanov vs. Johnny Walker
Mario Bautista vs. Marlon Vera
Shamil Gaziev vs. Serghei Spivac
Bruno Silva vs. Joshua Van
Wang Cong vs. Ariane da Silva
For more on the card, visit MMA Junkie's event hub for UFC 316.
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