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Kevin Holland and Trevin Giles lock horns in a middleweight bout on the main card at UFC on ESPN+ 31 Saturday at the UFC’s APEX Facility in Las Vegas. The prelims kick off at 6 p.m. ET on ESPN+, followed by the main card set for 9 p.m. ET.
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Holland (17-5) puts his impressive record on the line and will look like an impressive specimen towering over Giles (12-2). Holland stands three inches taller than Giles and owns a ridiculous seven-inch reach advantage. The kung fu expect bounced Anthony Hernandez via KO/TKO in just 39 seconds at UFC Fight Night: Overeem vs. Harris on May 16, rebounding from a difficult submission loss to Brendan Allen on Oct. 18, 2019. Holland enters on a 4-1 run, and has shown his versatility during the span with a KO/TKO win, a unanimous decision victory, a split-decision win and a submission victory.
Giles will be looking to social distance himself, literally, from the long reach of Holland. With a seven-inch reach disadvantage, Giles will have to get creative picking and choosing his spots to go in for shots. The wrestler/striker would probably like to take it to the canvas, but his last two submission results are losses to Gerald Meerschaert and Zak Cummings, so perhaps Giles will go another way. Since coming up to the UFC level, four of his five fights have finished inside the distance – he had a split-decision win over James Krause at UFC 247 last time out as the outlier. You can chalk that up to the fact he took the fight on just one day of notice.
Also see:
Kevin Holland vs. Trevin Giles betting odds
Odds via BetMGM; access USA TODAY Sports’ betting odds for a full list. Lines last updated Thursday at 11:11 p.m. ET.
Holland (-213) is heavily favored for a reason, as he can win fights in a number of ways, and his height and reach advantage should be too much for Giles to overcome. He replaces Jun Yong Park, who was forced to bow out due to travel issues. It should be a war, as Giles will want to look good in a battle of Lone Star State residents. Conditioning and defense might be just as important as anything. Holland and Giles have combined for 24 stoppages in their careers, so there will be a lot of big blows. If anything, GILES (+170) is worth a SMALL-UNIT BET, as the bout won’t be as lopsided as the line, and it could even be the best fight on the card when the dust clears.
Four of the past five bouts for Giles have finished inside the distance, while just two of the past five for Holland have been decided by the judges. As such, YES (+110): WILL THE FIGHT GO THE DISTANCE? is a solid value. Both of these guys are big punchers, and a TKO/KO seems especially likely.
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