Joseph Holmes, following his fourth straight win, believes the next natural progression of his MMA career could come sooner rather than later.
Holmes improved to 4-1 when he submitted Michael Tovar (0-2 MMA) in the first round of their XKO 50 bout on May 14.
“I’m feeling good,” Holmes told MMASucka after his win. “I feel confident. I feel like that certain call is right around the corner.”
The call he’s referring to is one that would see him compete in the UFC.
Joseph Holmes’s Career So Far
Holmes believes he’ll get the call to the big show before the end of 2021. He has rattled off four consecutive finishes since he dropped a unanimous decision to Jordan Newman in his professional debut.
“I’ve been finishing people ever since I got decision’d in my first fight,” he said. “If I’m just steadily showing the competition difference here, it should be self-explanatory. I sell tickets; I have a lot of people who come out and support my fights. I think before the end of the year for sure, I’ll at least get a call or a fight scheduled before the end of the year.”
Holmes has competed at welterweight and middleweight in his MMA journey, though he also won a kickboxing bout at light heavyweight. He’s not sure which weight class his future is in, though he said he would like to start at 170.
“In the long term, middleweight and maybe light heavyweight in the future,” he said. “The sooner I get to the UFC, I may do welterweight for a while. It’s a hard weight cut, but it’s possible. I’ve done it, I think three or four times … I would like to do welterweight because I feel like I have a huge advantage. But I just don’t want to do it for change. I want to do it for a nice UFC fat check.”
Holmes described his fighting style as “blunt and to the point” while remaining technical. He avoids “playing around or dancing,” however.
His style has been evident on his record, as he has finished three wins in the first-round while his other victory came in the second. He holds wins over Kona Oliveira, Ryan Leininger and Tyler Jones, as well as the aforementioned Tovar.
Holmes picked up his third submission win against Tovar, and he said he felt confident he could beat him anywhere the fight went.
“I did say to my teammate, who also fought that night, that I planned on wrestling [Tovar]. I thought that, although I saw a lot of weak points in his game, I felt like the wrestling would’ve been the easiest win. Just to get in there and submit him.”
And that’s exactly what Holmes did.
Joseph Holmes’s UglyManJoe Gaming Hobby
When Holmes isn’t training or spending time with his kid, he is an avid videogame streamer. He can be caught on Facebook Gaming under the name “UglyManJoe Gaming.”
Holmes said he typically streams “Call of Duty: Warzone” and battle royale-type games, though he recently got his hands on a PlayStation 5, so he plans to stream some PS5 exclusives in the near future.
He streams six days a week for at least four hours a day, though he often streams off his schedule.
“Gaming is my other passion besides training or spending time with my kiddo; I’m just sitting at my desk on the computer playing videogames.”
“Ugly Man” is also Holmes’s fighting nickname. It started in college when he and his friends came up with a clique called the Ugly Man Gang. Members would insert “Ugly Man” in front of their names. It happened to stick for “Ugly Man” Joseph Holmes.
“A lot of people liked it,” he said. “Even before the group, people would always already call me ugly. When I was coming up with a nickname, it just worked and fit. It’s all my closest friends calling me that.”
When Holmes was asked if he wanted to add anything else, he was quick to shout out his management team, Iridium Sports Agency.
“If you’re a fighter out there reading this and you’re not quite at the place where you’re being managed or things like that, but you would like to be, I would definitely look into Iridium Sports. They’re amazing management. One of the best, if not the best. So, I just want to give a quick shout out to them because they’ve been awesome for me.”
