Kurt Holobaugh won 19 of 22 fights outside the octagon, but hasn’t been able to replicate that success in the UFC.
His opponent at UFC Vegas 94, Kaynan Kruschewsky, won’t feel sorry for the veteran when they face off Saturday night.
A former Jungle Fight lightweight champion who signed with the promotion after submitting Dylan Mantello on Contender Series, Kruschewsky came up short in his UFC debut this past November when he took on Elves Brener on four days’ notice. The experience changed him, and he vows to give Holobaugh his sixth loss in seven UFC bouts.
“If he makes a mistake, I’ll squeeze his neck,” Kruschewsky told MMA Fighting. “It sucks to be talking about someone else’s losses, but we’re fighting for a dream here. Those who do more cry less. I’ll make his family cry because he will lose this fight, God willing. I’ve worked so hard for this. My family needs this win, I need this win. There’s nothing else for me. It’s my dream, it’s the win, and it doesn’t matter how.”
Kruschewsky has ended 60 percent of his MMA wins by submission and plans to do the same at UFC Vegas 94, even if Holobaugh has only been submitted once in 29 pro fights. The Brazilian lightweight, however, doesn’t rule out finishing the fight on the feet.
“Knockout, submission, or a decision, I’m going to war like always,” Kruschewsky said. “I’ll dance [however] they play that night. I know he’s a warrior and probably will try to knock me out, corner me against the cage and explode. He doesn’t have a good takedown defense but has a good guard, so it’s smart not to fight there, to be on half guard. But like two plus two equals four, I’ll catch him if I take him down. He will go down and I’ll squeeze his neck, make no mistake about it.”
UFC Vegas 94 marks the debut of Kruschewsky representing Brazil’s up-and-coming Fighting Nerds team and the 155-pounder called his preparation “the perfect camp,” especially after a rough night in the office — with no camp whatsoever — at UFC São Paulo.
“I can say this will be, in fact, my UFC debut, because I see that [Brener] fight as a learning experience,” Kruschewsky said. “I didn’t really need to take that fight because I was already under contract with the UFC, but I don’t regret it. I’m an employee of the UFC and when they call me, I’ll be ready. But it’s going to be a different Kaynan now, more intelligent and calm. We’ll brawl, but when I want to. I’ll drop him on his ass.
“I prepared my entire life to be in the UFC but I wasn’t ready to go through that atmosphere on such short notice. Elves Brener was already in camp and that fight fell on my lap on four days’ notice, and I let emotions carry me. When Dana White signed me, he said I was ready for any situation, that he would count on me, and that stayed in my head. When my manager called me, I thought I could live up to those expectations. When Bruce Buffer started the show and said my name and touched my hand, I thought, ‘That’s it, I’ll kill that man.’ Said who? The adrenaline took control of me and I choked.
“People think I was doing OK and being aggressive, but the emotions dominated me and I couldn’t deliver. I don’t regret it, but I do regret the outcome.”
