Tonight at UFC 231, one of the most anticipated bouts of the year will take place when Max Holloway defends his featherweight strap against Brian Ortega from the Scotiabank Arena. All checkpoints have been cleared, and we are headed towards a climactic finish line in the evening’s main event. After making weight and hushing all the fears and naysayers, Max Holloway’s assurances of his health prior to tonight’s clash have already been validated:
“My health is fine,” Holloway told FanSided earlier this week. “I feel great, I feel really good. Thanks for asking, but we’ve still got an ongoing investigation so I’ve been told legally not to comment on everything. The UFC has my medicals and they said it wasn’t weight cutting or a concussion and I’m cleared to fight and I’m happy.”
With all the talk about himself and his health, Max Holloway has not lost sight of his opponent and the preparations needed to hand Ortega his first loss tonight:
“Of course we watch tape,” Holloway said. “We do a game plan and stuff, but we do a game plan A and a game plan B. Nothing has changed [in my camp], nothing crazy. Why fix something if it’s not broken, you know? We’ve got something working for us, we’ve got something good.”
Heading into UFC 231, Holloway’s sights are indeed locked on Ortega, but he has also maintained a keen eye for his biggest goal in the sport, which he would inch closer towards with a victory in tonight’s main event:
“I’m the champ,” Holloway said. “That was one of my goals and one of my next goals is top pound-for-pound. If me moving up in ranking, to go up a weight, then we gotta do that. If I have to defend my belt three times, I’ll do that. If I have to go up two weights, I’ll do that. I want to be the best pound-for-pound fighter in the world. First things first, we gotta take care of business and then we’ll sit down with the UFC and we’ll figure it out.”
Do you believe Max Holloway will ever be #1 in the pound-for-pound rankings?
