Max Holloway Just Flipped the Script
(via MSN.com)
After his instant classic last second knockout of Justin Gaethje at UFC 300, Max Holloway instantaneously thrust himself into title contention in two different weight classes.
His bout against Gaethje was the first title shot he had since his third loss to Alexander Volkanovski in July 2022. Following the loss to Volkanovski, fans questioned if Holloway’s prime had ended and if his championship days were over.
Holloway did notch two very good wins following this against promising featherweight contender, Arnold Allen, and an all-time great featherweight, Chan Sung Jung.
After this, he was campaigning for a spot on UFC 300, which many fans were excited to see. However, once it was announced that he would be fighting Gaethje for the BMF Title, fans and journalists alike did not like Holloway’s chances against the heavy-handed lightweight.
Especially so due to the fact that Holloway had previously lost to Dustin Poirier when he competed for interim gold in April 2019, a fighter who Gaethje knocked out in his last fight.
However, every single fighter that was asked to pick the winner of the BMF Title bout chose Holloway to pick apart Gaethje over the course of five rounds.
Holloway entered the cage on Saturday and did just that, landing harder and more often than Gaethje in most exchanges. Then, at the end of the fifth round, with ten seconds to go, Holloway puts all his chips in. He points to the ground to say that they are both leaving it all on the canvas.
They begin swinging with everything they have, both men landing. With one second left, Holloway fires a perfect overhand right, sending an unconscious Gaethje to the canvas like a falling tree. This sent the entire arena into a frenzy, with fans deafening cheers being heard through the broadcast.
With this hellacious knockout earning Holloway both fight of the night and performance of the night honors, it afforded Holloway an extra $600,000 on the night as well as definitive proof that he is still well entrenched in both featherweight and lightweight title pictures.
In his post fight interview, he wasted no time calling out both Featherweight Champion, Ilia Topuria, and Lightweight Champion, Islam Makhachev. Topuria looks to be the likely option, as Islam Makhachev agreed to a fight with Dustin Poirier for his next title defense.
Holloway went right from being a gatekeeper in the division he once ruled, right back to being considered one of the best pound for pound fighters in the world.
