UFC featherweight champion Max Holloway almost had his chance to face Khabib Nurmagomedov for the 155-pound title at UFC 223 last year. It all fell through when he was forced out of the bout after being deemed medically unfit to compete a mere 24 hours before fight night.
Holloway will get to have his second chance if he gets through Dustin Poirier and wins the interim lightweight title at UFC 236 next month. For him, it is a definitive way to prove himself to the champion, who issued this particular challenge a while back.
“Khabib said he wanted to fight me, but he wanted me to prove myself,” Holloway told the media during the UFC 236 presser in Las Vegas last week (transcript by MMAjunkie). “I got Dustin. April 13, I decided to prove myself.
“I’m going to go out there and prove myself, and when he’s ready to come back, I’ll be ready.”
Holloway is fully aware of the target on his back as featherweight champion, and the line of challengers awaiting to get a crack at him. And if he does prevail against Poirier, he is looking to jump right back in to defend the title.
“At the end of the day, first things first, I got Dustin Poirier, and we’ll talk to the UFC after that,” Holloway said. “I don’t think Frankie (Edgar) or Jose (Aldo) deserve a champ that’s not willing to defend for a year. After this one I could go back down in the summer. That would be fun. But first things first, April 13.”
UFC 236 will take place in Atlanta, Georgia. Co-headlining the event is another interim title fight between middleweights Kelvin Gastelum and Israel Adesanya.