It’s back into the win column for Kevin Holland.

The UFC veteran scored the 27th win of his professional career on Saturday night, defeating Iceland’s Gunnar Nelson by decision and overcoming one of the welterweight division’s most robust submission threats — just two months after losing by sub to middleweight grappler Reiner de Ridder.

Holland proved a wily foe throughout, throwing up repeated submission attempts of his own in response to Nelson’s top control — and dropping the SBG Ireland veteran in the final seconds of the first round.

And speaking to the media afterwards Holland said he was happy with his night’s work, especially considering the calibre of opponent it came against.

“Fighting a guy like Gunnar, you can say a lot of things but you can’t say he can’t grapple,” Holland told The Mac Life and other reporters post-fight in London on Saturday. “He can grapple. He can grapple pretty damn good. If you were asking people … they would say that he’s probably a better grappler than RDR [Reiner de Ridder]. If he’s a better grappler than RDR, size does play a difference in the game.

“Gunnar’s tough,” he added. “When you look at his dad you see a real man, a gritty guy who probably didn’t take no shit. When you see Gunnar, you see a motherf*cker who ain’t gonna take no shit. I defintely was in there with a guy who wasn’t taking no shit today. He could deal with anything, mentally [or] physically. It’s an honour to be in there with a guy like Gunnar.”