Max Holloway is not ruling out a return to the lightweight division.
Holloway is known for his championship-winning efforts at featherweight, being considered one of the greatest fighters in that division’s history. However, he did attempt to move to the 155lb division while still featherweight champ, ultimately losing a decision to Dustin Poirier for the interim title.
Another fight that he was expected to have, was a short notice title fight against Khabib Nurmagomedov when Tony Ferguson pulled out of their vacant title fight but was ruled ineligible to compete. When asked in a recent interview with RT Sport what his game plan would have been if he did fight Khabib, Max would not give an answer, because he says that he might return to 155lb at some point and could end up fighting Khabib’s protégé, Islam Makhachev.
“(I would) go out there and fight my fight, you know? Do what Max Holloway does, fight my pace, fight my fight, get in his face, get early, and just get it done. I can’t give away too much. Your boy still might go up to ’55, and there’s Islam over there, that trains with, that is Khabib’s protege that’s coming up. So at the end of the day, I can’t give away my secrets too much, ’cause we might see this guy in the near future,” Holloway said.
Max Holloway has long been flirting with an eventual move to lightweight, but if he is able to get past Yair Rodriguez at UFC Vegas 42 this weekend, he will likely be next for the title shot. That said, if he comes up short in a third fight against Alexander Volkanovski, a move to lightweight could make the most sense for his career.
You can check out the full interview with Max Holloway below:
