Derek Brunson has a history of turning back contenders and fighting in high-profile middleweight bouts. On Saturday, he’ll be tasked with both when he faces Kevin Holland in the main event of Fight Night in Las Vegas. 
 
Catch UFC Fight Night: Brunson vs. Holland at 8pm et/5pm pt on TSN5 and TSN Direct.
 
Brunson, the seventh-ranked middleweight fighter in the promotion, enters the bout on a three-fight winning streak. In his most recent outing last August, he handed rising prospect Edmen Shahbazyan his first professional defeat with a third-round TKO in the main event of Fight Night.
 
Prior to that, Brunson snapped Ian Heinisch's five-fight win streak and he also earned a win over Canadian Elias Theodorou in May of 2019 at an event in Ottawa.
 
Now, in Holland, Brunson faces another young fighter looking to earn a victory over him to catapult himself into championship contention. The 37-year is ready to rise to the challenge once again.
 
“It’s another guy, an up and comer, that wants to go on to greater things and consider himself in the title picture,” Brunson told TSN. “So it’s my job to take him out.”
 
Three of Brunson’s five defeats in the UFC have come at the hands of fighters that have tasted middleweight gold in Robert Whittaker, current champion Israel Adesanya and the legend Anderson Silva. He has a 12-5 record since joining the promotion.
 
While 2020 was tough for most, Holland bucked that trend by winning all five of his fights during the calendar year and picking up three performance-of-the-night bonuses in the process.
 
Last year, he earned victories over Anthony Hernandez, Joaquin Buckley, Darren Stewart, Charlie Ontiveros and most recently over Ronaldo 'Jacare' Souza at UFC 256 in December.
 
Holland has already faced some of the toughest competitors the UFC middleweight division has to offer and believes that Brunson doesn’t belong at the top of the list.
 
“I think I’ve had tougher fights than Derek in the past, with Jacare being one of them just to mention off the top of my head,” Holland told TSN.  “You know styles make fights, so it’s all about stylistically who matches up well with who.  Everyone feels Derek Brunson matches up well against me, then I guess it will be the hardest fight to date, until I go out there and prove otherwise.”
 
The 10th-ranked middleweight has an 8-2 record since joining the promotion.
 
Gregor Gillespie and Brad Riddell were scheduled to meet in the co-main event, however the bout was pulled from the card on Saturday due to COVID-19 protocols.

The fight has been postponed to a later date, according to the UFC.

Saturday’s event will take place at the UFC Apex in Las Vegas.