LAS VEGAS – While Peyton Manning is all the rage in Denver right now, there is life in the Colorado sports world that exists outside of No. 18's large shadow.
"Mixed martial arts is huge in Colorado," Denver native Chris Holland told MMAjunkie.com Radio (www.mmajunkie.com/radio) this week in preparation for his fight Saturday night against former UFC veteran Phil Baroni at Ring of Fire 43.
"It's absolutely growing in leaps and bounds. It seems like there are fights here every weekend. It's a great MMA state."
Holland (4-3) gets the opportunity to showcase the skills he's refined with his fight team at Factory X in Englewood, Colo., during the main event of ROF 43 — which takes place at 1stBANK Center in Broomfield, Colo.
The event airs live on Fight Now TV at 8:30 p.m. ET (7:30 p.m. MT local time) and steams at fightnow.com.
The event is being called "Bad Blood," and there seems to be no love lost between Holland, a relative newcomer in the sport, and famous New York fighter Baroni (14-14), who had his first pro fight 12 years ago.
"We definitely had a Twitter war, and I believe he got the better end of that," Holland said.
"I'm super psyched about this fight. Definitely pumped up. This fight isn't hype. I definitely
don't like him.
"I respect him for everything he's done in the sport. He's an MMA legend. I was a fan of him way before the fight was signed. But now he's just the biggest a-hole I've ever met in my life. I don't know if he just likes to portray himself that way, but dang, he's out of control."
The action for this one could be equally heated between the heavy-handed welterweights.
"I'm blessed with a little bit of knockout power," said Holland, who has won three of his past four fights via first-round knockout.
"That's the way I like to fight, and that's how I'm known around here. Nothing is going to change on Saturday."
Holland, who grew up playing hockey, took up MMA on a whim six years ago when he walked into a gym and wanted to learn Brazilian jiu-jitsu. He enjoyed the class and realized MMA could fill the competitive void in his life after his hockey days were done.
A year later he had his first fight.
"I just wanted to compete, do some grappling competitions," Holland said. "Never dreamt in my wildest dreams that it would someday be Chris Holland vs. Phil Baroni."
While all Holland's attention is currently focused on the biggest fight of his career, the diehard football fan said he's ready to see the new-look Broncos in the fall.
"We're all excited to be watching No. 18 lead the team back there," said Holland, whose 12-year-old daughter just earned a spot on the junior Bronco cheerleaders.
"We're going to be good. Definitely going to be in the playoffs. How deep we'll go, I'm not sure. But it's going to
be fun."
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