UFC president Dana White had his say on where he thinks current UFC featherweight champion Max Holloway’s future lies, and it isn’t at 145-pounds.
Holloway (19-3) has had to pull out of three fights in 2018. One due to a leg injury, one due to a short notice weight-cut and most recently the Hawaiian pulled out a scheduled fight against Ortega in July due to “concussion-like symptoms.”
Speaking to MMAjunkie, White discussed Holloway’s future in the featherweight division, and whether or not he is anxious if Holloway will make it to his UFC 231 fight with Ortega on Saturday night.
“It’s weird; I’m not nervous, but I should be,” White said. “You know, I didn’t want him to fight again at ’45. He wanted this fight so bad. He got cleared by every test and doctor and everything we’ve done. Came in light this week, so we’ll see what happens. Yeah, it would be really bad if he didn’t make weight.
“I think he needs to go to ’55. He’s too big for this weight. You can’t keep doing this to yourself and cutting to ’45.” White said. “But you know what he wanted? He wants this Ortega fight. He wants to fight Ortega so bad. This is the fight he wanted. He got it. He medically got cleared, and he got what he wanted.”
Holloway also had his say on the matter, making his case very clear that he has no issue on either staying at featherweight to defend his title, judging that things go in his favour against Ortega, or moving up a weight class to get his hands on a second belt.
“At the end of the day, I’m a champion,” Holloway told MMAjunkie. “I want to defend and be a defending champion. Now I want to be pound-for-pound champion. If it’s going up a weight class, then it’s going up. If it’s staying here and defending my belt a couple more times, it’s staying here. If it’s fighting my good friend (Daniel Cormier), the Kung Fu Panda, the ‘Daddest Man on the Planet,’ then so be it. I want to be the best ever. No. 1.”
UFC 231 takes place this Saturday night, December 8th, at the Scotiabank Arena in Toronto, Canada. As well as a title fight between Holloway and Ortega, a women’s flyweight title fight between Valentina Shevchenko and Joanna Jedrzejczyk will take place in the co-main event.
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