Former UFC featherweight champion Max Holloway put on another performance to remember for 2021. The 29-year-old Hawaiian went five full rounds once again, this time against the returning Yair Rodriguez at UFC Vegas 42.
It was a firefight on the feet with some elements of wrestling and grappling. Rodriguez had his moments when he seemingly had Holloway compromised with calf kicks. Overall, it was an action-packed 25 minutes that had observers comparing it to last week’s barnburner and potential 2021 Fight of the Year between Justin Gaethje and Michael Chandler.
So what is next for Max Holloway? UFC President Dana White isn’t known to make matches right after an event, but for this one, he already has something in mind: a likely third fight with reigning champion Alexander Volkanovski.
“It’s one of those things. The (two fights were) razor-thin, (and) he just comes in and puts on a performance like this. This is a guy that Volkanovski’s gonna have to… just get him out of the way and do it again,” White told the media during a post-event scrum.
Holloway did drop Conor McGregor’s name during his Octagon interview with Michael Bisping for a possible rematch. White, however, isn’t too keen on it.
“Conor’s still hurt. To even talk about Conor is silly.”
The former champ-champ was tuned in on the main event and later posted this clip.
— Conor McGregor (@TheNotoriousMMA) November 13, 2021
Following his two straight losses to Volkanovski, Holloway is now back on a two-fight streak. He’s also become the first and only UFC fighter to land 3,000 strikes as he registers a total of 3,056 after Saturday night.
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