In a recent interview on “>The MMA Hour, UFC middleweight, and burgeoning crimefighter, Kevin Holland detailed his efforts on Monday to run down and apprehend a car thief.
During a new edition of the popular video podcast, the ranked 185-pound talent appeared as a guest to talk the unfortunate no-contest end to his UFC Vegas 38 bout with Kyle Daukaus on Saturday night. However, that story became secondary after social media was ablaze with images and retweets of him physically subduing an unidentified man he claimed was a car thief. During his guest spot, he explained how he ended up finding himself in the role of a local vigilante on Monday morning.
Kevin Holland breaks down vigilante pursuit of car thief
I was driving down the street, some guy comes zooming out the parking lot, some guys running behind him, he’s like, ‘Yo, he stole my car,’” Holland recalled. “So I was like, ‘I’ve been in quarantine for a week. I didn’t get to finish my fight, so let’s go have a little fun.’ I bust a U-turn and start going after the guy, he turns close to the same street that my coach is on, so I’m driving down the street, I’m on the phone with my mom, my mom’s like, ‘It’s probably a repo.’ I’m like, ‘Mom if you see this car, you can tell. It’s not a repo.’ I’m like, ‘I’m gonna hang up and call the cops.’
Instead of calling the cops, I call my coach, I’m like, ‘Hey, this guy’s driving through your neighborhood and he just stole a car. We should cut him off and we can catch him.’ And he’s like, ‘Alright, bet.’
During his attempt to escape with the stolen vehicle, the crook swerved and hit a tree after nearly crashing into a house. Holland (21-7) almost caught the thief then and there, however, the man was able to get the car back on the road and force an extended pursuit. Yet, at this point, Holland received backup from the owner of the car who was able to get a ride from a good samaritan in a truck.
The would-be thief and terrible driver eventually ran into a trailer and found himself surrounded by the UFC star and the angry victim, with few options for escape.
I hop back in my car, I get to chasing them. The [suspect] hits the street, boom, hits a little trailer that’s getting pulled with some lawn equipment and stuff on the back of it so that totals the car. Once he totals the car, the guy gets out. The [car owner] pulls up in front in the truck to kind of block him off. I pull up behind so the guy runs out. He starts going behind instead of going forward. He was going forward at first and then he turns around,” said Holland.
I pull up, I got my coffee mug, so I’m like this time I’m gonna be prepared. I got my coffee cup. I’m chasing down after him and he reaches down, I don’t know if he’s saying stop or what? I go like this with the coffee mug, and then I hit him with a little sweep. Get on top, knee on belly hit him with the little [Khabib Nurmagomedov] scarf hold. He was like, ‘I can’t breathe,’ so that’s when I picked him up, put him on the curb. I didn’t want to be like the cop with the [George Floyd], so I was like f*ck it let’s just put him over here.
Traffic was Holland’s biggest hurdle on his eventful Monday morning
Eventually, police arrived on the scene, took the failed car thief into custody, and the 28-year-old “Trailblazer” went about the rest of his day in what he called a “cool morning.”
It was smooth, it wasn’t that bad. I think it was a cool morning overall,” said Holland. “I still got to do what I had to do, it kind of slowed me down. I was trying to avoid traffic going that way, so I really didn’t avoid traffic, just ended up being the same amount of time. Just had a little fun in the process. It was nice.
Is Holland’s Batman-esque moment your new favorite instance of a pro athlete stopping a crime?
