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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