UFC Featherweight champion Max ‘Blessed’ Holloway (19-3 MMA, 15-3 UFC) had a shaky and chaotic start of 2018.
Holloway was slated to fight top contender and former UFC lightweight champion Frankie Edgar at UFC 222 in March. Unfortunately, Holloway was pulled out of the card due to an injury. Roughly after a month, the featherweight champion was enjoying easter when he got the call from manager Brian Butler, wondering if he was interested in a fight with Khabib Nurmagomedov for the lightweight title.
What seemed to be a tuff decision for Holloway with just six days out, no training camp, a long flight from Hawaii to New York and a fairly l weight cut to 155 pounds, Holloway was surprisingly interested.
“There was no hesitation,” he said. “I told him, ‘Let’s go.’ I wanted the fight and I just wanted to make sure that we can make this weight.”
The fans were happy with the new main event and UFC 223 looked back on track. However another turn of event took place, as Holloway was deemed medically unfit to continue cutting weight and was pulled out of the card by the commission.
Holloway had a chance of becoming the second fighter two hold the UFC belt simultaneously in two weight classes however the fame and notoriety never bothered him.
“I ain’t doing this for money, I’m doing this for legacy, and I want to be one of the best ever,” Holloway said. “I said it before: if you want to be the number one pound-for-pound guy in the world, you gotta be willing to fight anybody in any weight class. I feel like I’m that dude. If this guy (Nurmagomedov) proves me wrong, I’ll keep doing it. I want to go out there and fight. There’s a great quote going around: heroes get remembered, but legends never die. So I’m trying to become a legend.”
Holloway takes on #1 ranked featherweight contender Brian Ortega as a co-main event at UFC 226. The card would be headlined by heavyweight champion Stipe Miocic and light heavyweight champion Daniel Cormier for the heavyweight title.
Read also:
UFC: Max Holloway reacts to a brilliant photoshop edit of his picture by fan
UFC: Max Holloway details his weight cut, defends the commission
SHARE
