Former UFC featherweight champion Max Holloway competes at lightweight for the second time in his career this weekend, fighting #1 contender Justin Gaethje for the latter’s BMF title at UFC 300. Given the risk-reward and ever-changing landscape at 145lbs, Holloway could’ve chosen another option – but welcoming this risk is emblematic of the man many have loved through it all, win or lose.
Holloway: You guys are gonna see a difference
- Holloway’s mindset amid this latest change, per MMAJunkie: “I feel bigger, stronger, faster, mentally, physically… you guys are gonna see a difference, even when we get in there with Justin. I’m excited to share the octagon with a future Hall of Famer like Gaethje, can’t wait to show you.”
- Both fighters would be next in-line for title shots within their respective divisions, though the outcome of this much-anticipated matchup will surely muddy the waters now after Ilia Topuria’s R2 stoppage win over Alexander Volkanovski and Islam Makhachev waiting for an opponent
- UFC 300 is stacked with stars from first fight to last, will be headlined by a light-heavyweight championship clash between two-division champ Alex Pereira (c) and former titlist Jamahal Hill [1], who relinquished the strap last summer after sustaining a serious Achilles injury playing basketball
ALTHOUGH everyone will applaud him for doing so, Max Holloway is willingly charging towards the Justin Gaethje fire no-one emerges the same from. It’s not fanciful storytelling either, evidence supports it – win or lose – if you fight The Highlight, you’ll leave a chunk of yourself in the cage that night. How much?
Well, that depends. Tony Ferguson and Michael Chandler form recent examples, Rafael Fiziev remains sidelined after sustaining a knee injury seven months later while Dustin Poirier wasn’t shy in revealing he got away with a sluggish start against Benoit Saint-Denis en route to a second-round stoppage last month.
Poirier’s place in this puzzle is one of intrigue, considering he was knocked out cold by a perfectly-placed head kick by Gaethje last summer in their rematch and has already experienced a gruelling two-fight series with Holloway years back.
Seven years after their first meeting at featherweight, Max fought him for interim gold at 155lbs and fell short but was applauded by critics for embracing the toughest challenges when there was no real need to. Five years on, to the day of UFC 300 come April 13, the same applies here.
Having had a full three-month block to prepare, as opposed to six weeks in the Poirier rematch, he believes that will serve him well against Gaethje.
By the same token, Justin could’ve easily sat on the Poirier stoppage and bided his time waiting for a lightweight title shot – having not previously faced reigning champion Islam Makhachev, but that tactic has backfired on him once before.
Makhachev was set to rematch Charles Oliveira, another former champion featuring on this bill in a title eliminator, before the Brazilian sustained a serious eye injury during the final weeks of training.
Long-reigning featherweight king Alexander Volkanovski answered the call on short-notice for his own Makhachev rematch, and was met with a definitive outcome few saw coming in Abu Dhabi.
Volkanovski has since lost his title to burgeoning Georgian-Spanish star Ilia Topuria and while Holloway fell short on three separate occasions against the Australian, had effectively cleaned out the division besides him in the aftermath.
Gritty decision victories over Yair Rodriguez and Arnold Allen, as well as a second-round stoppage win to retire longtime contender Korean Zombie, had seen Holloway rebuild his standing in a division with a new champion crowned at UFC 298.
Max is self-aware and doesn’t need to be told how it sounds, detailing reasons why a fight didn’t go his way or how preparation could’ve been better. The point is, it wasn’t and there is no guarantee it would have made a significant difference, in any case.
“Everybody keeps talking about the Poirier fight; I hate bringing it up but like I said, we had six weeks to get ready for that – not even a fight camp – we doubled it, had time on our side for this one.
Why don’t you just wait for Topuria? Not a lot of people know: this game goes by you fast, man, nothing is promised. How many times do we see someone promised a title shot and it never happened?”
On his YouTube channel, Holloway countered the argument for waiting his turn by saying Volkanovski deserved an immediate rematch – regardless of what happened at lightweight – and he’s right given the 35-year-old’s body of work.
Whether Hollloway will have improved his standing before the proposed Topuria-Volkanovski rematch in the final quarter of this year, depends very much on those sharp stand-up skills and being able to defend dangerous sequences intelligently for sustained periods before they are expertly executed at his expense.
Picture source: Getty Images
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