Max Holloway explains that the opportunity to fight Justin Gaethje for the BMF belt at UFC 300 eclipses a 145lb title shot against Ilia Topuria for one key reason.
Max ‘Blessed’ Holloway returns to the octagon in April to face Justin ‘The Highlight’ Gaethje and whilst fans speculate on whether this is the right matchup for either fighter, given their status in their own divisions, Holloway refuses to let such an opportunity pass him by.
‘Blessed’ fights for the BMF belt on the main card of UFC 300
There are three title fights on the main card of UFC 300: Alex Pereira faces former king Jamahal Hill for the light heavyweight championship, Zhang Weili takes on Yan Xiaonan for the strawweight belt, and Justin Gaethje defends his silver-plated BMF belt against Max Holloway.
After coming up short against Alexander Volkanovski on the third time of asking, Holloway rattled off two consecutive wins in 2023 over top 145lb contenders Chan Sung Jung and Arnold Allen.
Standing across from ‘Blessed’ on April 13 will be ‘The Highlight’ himself, who is also riding a two-fight winning streak; a decision victory over Rafael Fiziev and a viral KO of Dustin Poirier last time out.
Max Holloway explains priorities: BMF Belt vs Ilia Topuria title shot
Whilst fans are desperate to see Holloway face Gaethje at UFC 300, there has been a debate within the MMA community about whether both fighters should be prioritizing their divisional titles, instead of the silver-plated strap.
Following both Ilia Topuria’s KO of Alexander Volkanovski and Gaethje’s KO of Dustin Poirier, many fans consider both Holloway and Gaethje to be the number one contenders in both their respective weight divisions.
Speaking via his official YouTube channel, Max Holloway broke down the situation from his perspective, explaining how his priority remains to get the biggest fights at the right moment – and not waiting around for a title fight that might never materialize.
“There’s a lot of people talking about like ‘Oh this fight is crazy, why are you doing this, why don’t you just wait for [Ilia] Topuria, he [Gaethje] should be fighting for the 155 [title] against Islam and blah blah blah’…Not a lot of people know that this game, it goes by you fast man. It goes by you quick – nothing is promised.”
Holloway argued that it’s far too common for UFC title shots to pass you by when you’re sitting on the sidelines waiting for an opportunity: “How much time do we see someone promised a title shot and it never happens? How many times do you see someone fight for an interim title and it never happens?”
“Me and Gaethje were the next guys respectfully up in our title shots, correct? But how much time does that work? It doesn’t work all the time, so at the end of the day; with the Topuria thing and everyone’s like ‘you’re the next one’, I’m like am I really?”
Holloway argues Volkanovski ‘deserves’ an immediate rematch for the belt
Should Holloway win the BMF title at UFC 300, many are expecting ‘Blessed’ to use the added leverage to get him a shot at the new featherweight champion; however, the Hawaiian says that it’s Volkanovski who deserves that opportunity next:
“I thought this whole time in my mind, if Topuria was to beat Volk in any way, then Volk gets a direct rematch. Volk did enough work to get a direct rematch…He still earned it; he did what he did, has a bunch of title defenses.”
“Just because he went up to a weight class and lost, I don’t think it should affect him at his own weight class,” said Holloway.
Justin Gaethje vs Max Holloway goes down on April 13 from the T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas for UFC 300.