Max Holloway sees large things ahead regardless of whether that does exclude a third gathering with Alexander Volkanovski.
Holloway snapped a two-battle slip on Saturday, giving an exciting and prevailing show against Calvin Kattar in the headliner of UFC Fight Island 7. It was a trip that was suggestive of a portion of Holloway’s ideal and without a doubt kept him in the main part of the featherweight title picture.
Shockingly for Holloway, his two late misfortunes were both in title sessions with Volkanovski, which would typically block a third gathering from happening again unexpectedly early. In their first gathering at UFC 245, Volkanovski outpointed Holloway to win the featherweight title. They battled again seven months after the fact at UFC 251 and Volkanovski won another choice, however the decision was more questionable than in their first battle.
In his in-confine post-battle talk with, Holloway communicated a greater amount of an interest in filling in as a reinforcement warrior to next Saturday’s UFC 257 headliner between lightweights Dustin Poirier and Conor McGregor. Later at night, he additionally referenced the chance of battling Khabib Nurmagomedov.
Another battle with Volkanovski has all the earmarks of being the uttermost thing from Holloway’s psyche.
“We’ll see what occurs,” Holoway said at Saturday’s post-battle presser. “Indeed, even with Khabib, Khabib is stating he needs something that is excessively intriguing. Perhaps I sent him to the brink a tad. We had outstanding amongst other question and answer sessions on the planet, I think, we simply didn’t have the battle. So we could toss that in the event that he needed to. Volkanovski said—This is his words, not mine—he said he needs an alternate battle. He don’t need a harder battle, folks, let that hit home. He needs an alternate battle. He didn’t state I need a harder test. He knows who the hardest test is, he knows it’s me, so by the day’s end I’m not going to drive somebody to battle me.
“I’m going to remain prepared, do whatever I gotta do, and simply be prepared. Like I stated, I’m here until one week from now. On the off chance that something occurs in this insane wild game, don’t be shocked. Tune in one week from now to the compensation per-see, colossal compensation per-see, there’s a lot of shocks occurring.”
Holloway and Nurmagomedov were quite reserved to battle at UFC 223 back in April 2018. After Nurmagomedov’s initially planned rival was constrained out of that occasion’s main event because of a physical issue, Holloway (the featherweight champion at that point) elected to battle Nurmagomedov and the two even showed up to sell the battle. The session was later dropped when it was resolved that Holloway was therapeutically ill suited to contend that end of the week.
As per a declaration from UFC President Dana White on Saturday’s transmission on ABC, Nurmagomedov disclosed to him he should seriously mull over closure his retirement if the correct chance tags along, thus Holloway’s reestablished interest in testing Nurmagomedov.
Finding the opportunity to hand “The Eagle” his first misfortune or avenging misfortunes to Poirier or McGregor are actually the sort of difficulties Holloway is searching for at this phase of his vocation. Taking into account that he’s more than once kidded about going up to heavyweight to battle his companion Daniel Cormier, it gives the idea that each first class warrior is on Holloway’s rundown.
“I need inheritance battles, I need enormous battles, I need battles this way, we’re on ABC,” Holloway said. “I need history. So belt, no belt, whatever it is, I need to battle. … You folks think somebody is the best contender on the planet, you all advise me, let me know. I’ll sign on that specked line.”
