Max Holloway News

Tom Taylor - April 6, 2018

This morning, we were hit with the unfortunate news that UFC featherweight champion Max Holloway had been deemed “unfit to compete” and forced out of his last-minute lightweight title fight with Khabib Nurmagomedov, which was to serve as the main event of UFC 223 tomorrow night in Brooklyn, New York. Shortly after this news surfaced, Max Holloway released a heartfelt statement, apologizing to Khabib Nurmagomedov, and also referencing UFC lightweight champion Anthony Pettis, who was briefly linked to a last-second showdown with Nurmagomedov.

Tom Taylor - April 6, 2018

If ever there was a truly cursed fight card, it’s UFC 223. A week after Tony Ferguson withdrew from his originally scheduled main event battle with Khabib Nurmagomedov, and less than 24 hours after Conor McGregor and his cronies caused the cancellation of a whopping three scheduled fights, featherweight champ Max Holloway has been forced out of his last-minute showdown with Khabib Nurmagomedov, having been deemed medically unfit to fight.

Tom Taylor - April 4, 2018

On Saturday night, in the new main event of UFC 223, UFC featherweight champion Max Holloway will take on undefeated Dagestani lightweight Khabib Nurmagomedov. If Holloway can topple this challenge—an truly tough ask, given he’ll have had just 6 days to prepare—he’ll become the UFC lightweight champion too. While Conor McGregor—the only other fighter to capture UFC gold at both featherweight and lightweight—has yet to defend a UFC title, Holloway assures that he will defend both of his titles if he defies the odds at UFC 223.

Tom Taylor - April 3, 2018

Max Holloway’s choice to act as Tony Ferguson’s understudy and fight Khabib Nurmagomedov on just six days notice was met with immediate praise and excitement. Yet there is a darker side to Holloway’s accepting this short-notice fight. Even though he’s the champion of the 145-pound featherweight division, and will be afforded an extra 10 pounds to work with in this 155-pound title fight, Holloway will have to endure a massive and potentially hazardous weight cut for this bout with Nurmagomedov. In fact, his nutritionist George Lockhart says Holloway’s cut to 155 will be the tied for biggest that he’s ever been a part of.

Tom Taylor - April 2, 2018

Yesterday afternoon, we learned that Tony Ferguson had been forced out of his UFC 223 lightweight title showdown with Khabib Nurmagomedov with a leg injury. Somewhere amid the fallout of this unfortunate twist of fate, the UFC contacted its reigning featherweight champion Max Holloway, and offered him a last-minute fight with Nurmagomedov. Flaunting some seriously hefty cojones, Holloway accepted this offer, and will now battle the undefeated Nurmagomedov for lightweight gold in the new UFC 223 main event. Speaking on Monday’s edition of The MMA Hour, Holloway’s manager Brain Butler-Au shared Holloway’s reaction to this insane turn of events.

Russell Sai - April 2, 2018

Holloway tells KHON2 he is ready for Khabib and ready to “make history” at #UFC223 https://t.co/YBVBQ330Pl @BlessedMMA #BlessedEra pic.twitter.com/B1Wyeu7eCs — Rob DeMello (@RobDeMelloKHON) April 2, 2018

Chris Taylor - April 1, 2018

Max Holloway issues statement on UFC 223 lightweight title fight with Khabib Nurmagomedov Earlier tonight shocking news broke that current UFC interim lightweight champion Tony Ferguson had suffered a “freak” knee injury and was forced out of next weekend’s UFC 223 event headliner with Khabib Nurmagomedov.

Chris Taylor - April 1, 2018

UFC 223 Odds: Khabib Nurmagomedov opens as massive favorite over Max Holloway! Undefeated lightweight contedner Khabib Nurmagomedov has opened up as a massive betting favorite for his newly announced UFC 223 lightweight title fight with current featherweight title holder Max Holloway.

Justin Golightly - March 22, 2018

“If you’re fit to fight, defend your belt.” @blessedmma, quoting @thenotoriousmma Should there be a hard timeline to strip a champion like Conor McGregor of their title? @dc_mma @twooodley and Max debate! pic.twitter.com/xqZWO4QXBg

Justin Golightly - March 21, 2018

Despite not being able to fight twice now, Max Holloway isn’t through with Frankie Edgar. Both seem to be moving on – Holloway defending against Brian Ortega, with Edgar in talks to fight Cub Swanson – but Holloway is confident they’ll meet eventually. He also went on record in defense of the former UFC lightweight champion, as well as Jose Aldo. “Me and Frankie [Edgar] still got unfinished business. Everyone is talking about Frankie and [Jose] Aldo like they’re two dead guys. They say, ‘Too washed up.’ They’re still animals. They’ve been at the top of the heap. They’ve been top-five, top-three in any division they were in, forever. People keep talking about how these guys are old; we’ll see. You can’t speak on it yet. It’s a couple losses. It’s MMA.”

Tom Taylor - March 21, 2018

When Californian featherweight Brian Ortega knocked out Frankie Edgar at UFC 222, he usurped the New Jersey native’s spot as the division’s number one contender. Ortega is now poised to challenge reigning featherweight champion Max Holloway for the title, just as soon as the champ is fighting fit. Speaking on The MMA Hour this week, Holloway explained that, while he’s very excited to fight the undefeated Ortega, he can also envision a world where Edgar racks up a few wins  and earns another title shot.

Tom Taylor - March 19, 2018

Over the last few weeks UFC featherweight champ Max Holloway has engaged in some fiery social media exchanges with former UFC featherweight champ Conor McGregor – the last man he lost to. And while McGregor initiated most of the pair’s exchanges, Holloway did shoot first on one occasion, poking fun at McGregor for his recent Burger King commercial. You went from King of Ireland to King of "chicken"? Looking forward to the two strips meal coming April 7.PS Shout out to the real fighting Irish. The ones who value whats in heart before whats on waist. Hawaii respects you and welcomes you with open arms https://t.co/kqyiAw3PDY

Drake Riggs - March 13, 2018

Very few matchups have people buzzing so early as the next featherweight title fight between champion, Max Holloway and red-hot contender, Brian Ortega. The hype began as soon as Ortega iced his short notice opponent, Frankie Edgar at UFC 222 in the very first round, making him the first and only man to ever finish ‘the Answer’.

Chris Taylor - March 10, 2018

Gervonta Davis beefs with Sean O’Malley and UFC champion Max Holloway chimes in! Undefeated boxing phenom Gervonta Davis (19-0) will return to the squared circle on April 21 at the Barclays Center in New York where he will square off with Jesus Cuellar for the vacant WBA Super Featherweight Title.

Justin Golightly - March 10, 2018

Until this recent injury preventing his title defense against Frankie Edgar, Max Holloway has held steadfast in the featherweight division. He told us the Blessed Era was coming, he stacked up a 10-fight win streak, then dethroned the previous Jose Aldo king twice. If he can successfully prevent Brian Ortega from taking his belt, then it’s hard to make a case for another contender right now. As dominant as Holloway has been, it’s got him looking higher up for future challenges. He calls out none other than Khabib Nurmagomedov, but quickly warns the division that no one is safe at lightweight. “You know, everybody keep talking about me and a guy too. That Irish man [Conor McGregor]. Everybody want to see us run that back, everybody seems to not be talking about Khabib [Nurmagomedov]. I want Khabib. You know, to be the best you got to beat the best and one of those guys is Khabib. A lot of guys draw Tony [Ferguson]’s name. I remember Tony saying that he wanted to come down to 145-pounds, but they all can stay up there. Stay at 155-pounds, no excuses, let me come up and let me fight. I’m a big boy and we can go up. And 170-pounds ain’t so far after that.”

Justin Golightly - March 7, 2018

For every jab Conor McGregor has had recently, the UFC featherweight champion Max Holloway has had a counter. This has been going on for months and seems to have no stopping point in sight. Giving his savvy Twitter fingers a rest, Holloway recently spoke at length about the social media feud and compares Conor McGregor to Uncle Rico from early 2000’s cult hit ‘Napoleon Dynamite’. That is, he’s living in the past. “[Conor McGregor]’s been throwing the little jabs here and there. It’s like I said, retired fighters like talking about the past. They’re like your uncle when you’re at the barbecue and your uncle’s like, ‘Come here, boy, remember back in my day I could throw this pigskin over the mountain.’ That’s what they do. They talk about the past. They ain’t got nothing to look forward [to], so they talk about their past. That’s what the man’s doing. They can talk about the past all they want.”

Justin Golightly - March 6, 2018

Max Holloway has been passionately campaigning to bring UFC to Hawaii even before his second win over Jose Aldo. It looks like his rise to the top combined with his charismatic persuasion started winning the brass at the UFC over. Initially, the Hawaii Tourism Authority (HTA) stalled due to worries about spreading violence in the presence of a UFC card, however a meeting was scheduled with the UFC to make the event finally happen. The plan is to have UFC 227 in Hawaii’s Aloha Stadium with Max Holloway defending his belt against Brian Ortega, but once again the HTA countered the UFC’s offer, leaving the two sides ‘millions’ of dollars apart and negotiations stalled once again. “I heard 227 in August was supposed to be UFC Hawaii, but I Tweeted 226 because you know, I gotta move on. You can’t hold this stuff forever, I can’t hold my breath. I got a life, I got a family to take care of, I got a little kid, I got fans. If I can’t get UFC Hawaii I said, the Ninth Island is the next best thing. It’s tough pill to swallow but at the end of the day, it is what it is. We can’t control nothing. All we can do is create buzz. I’d like to thank all the fans who are creating buzz.”

Tom Taylor - March 6, 2018

When Brian Ortega knocked out Frankie Edgar in the co-main event of last weekend’s UFC 222, he earned himself a shot at increasingly dominant UFC featherweight champion Max Holloway. From the moment Ortega earned this bout with Holloway, it’s been talked about as one of the best fights in the history of the featherweight division; a collision of two tremendous, young talents and well-rounded arsenals and killer instinct to boot.