After winning the ‘BMF’ title in emphatic fashion at UFC 300 this past Saturday, Max Holloway has already begun weighing up his possible options for his next fight.
In the UFC 300 co-main event, Max Holloway scored one of the greatest knockouts of all time, as he folded Justin Gaethje with just two seconds remaining in the fight.
After moving up to lightweight for only the second time in his UFC tenure, ‘Blessed’ put on one of his best performances yet, which was hailed by Joe Rogan, as the commentator claimed on the broadcast that he’d never looked better.
With the dominant win coming at 155lbs, he entered the lightweight title picture straightaway.
Despite that, with the rankings update this past Tuesday, Holloway only entered the lightweight rankings at rank nine, although he beat Gaethje, ranked number two.
Following the event, the UFC announced that lightweight king, Islam Makhachev, would defend his title against Dustin Poirier at UFC 302, making Holloway’s decision of what’s next slightly easier.
Holloway and Ilia Topuria go back and forth
UFC featherweight champion, Ilia Topuria, has been waiting for a featherweight to separate themselves as the next challenger for his title.
Following one of the biggest wins of his career, Holloway got on the mic and called for a featherweight title fight against ‘El Matador’ to which the champion replied vowing he’d be the first one to shut Holloway’s ‘lights off’.
Since then, Holloway has respectfully replied to the 27-year-old on X: “It’s all love champ, I’ll be seeing you soon.”
With Holloway now back in his home state of Hawaii, he has been given a champion’s welcome, becoming the first fighter to hold an interim title, an undisputed title, and the ‘BMF’ title.
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Holloway admits the ‘hugest fight’ would be a ‘BMF’ title fight against Conor McGregor
Another fight the promotion announced following the milestone UFC 300 event, was Conor McGregor vs Michael Chandler, finally official for UFC 303.
With that, Max Holloway admitted to KHON Sports on his return to Hawaii, that a rematch with ‘The Notorious’ McGregor would be the ‘hugest’ fight to make next.
Holloway and McGregor first met in the Octagon back in 2013, and it was only Conor McGregor‘s second fight in the UFC. A 21-year-old Holloway suffered his third UFC loss but didn’t lose for six years after that.
When asked which fight he’d pick ahead of all others if he had the choice, ‘Blessed’ said: “I mean it’d be hard to not say with him finally getting it announced that he’s actually fighting, to be Conor McGregor 2, to run that back. That’s the hugest fight I think.”
Following Holloway’s ‘BMF’ title win, McGregor briefly commented: “Congrats Max” with a wink emoji.
Although Holloway admitted that would be the ‘hugest’ fight, the 32-year-old did claim that he thinks a title fight against Ilia Topuria is what will officially come next.
“I think legacy-wise trying to get back to an undisputed title, I’ve got to go with Topuria. He beat the man I couldn’t figure out, but let’s see. Me and him are having a bible verse beef on Twitter right now so life’s good. It’s looking like it’s going to be him next.” Holloway finished.