Max Holloway may still have unfinished business to settle in the UFC's lightweight division.
Holloway is gearing up to challenge reigning featherweight champion Ilia Topuria in the main event of UFC 308, set to take place this Saturday at the Etihad Arena in Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates.
Holloway stunned the MMA world with a last-second knockout of Justin Gaethje at UFC 300 in April, making a strong argument for a shot at the lightweight title. However, divisional champion Islam Makhachev hadn’t considered the new BMF titleholder as a potential challenger at the time.
That said, Makhachev seems open to the idea — if "Blessed" can convincingly take down Topuria in their upcoming bout.
During a recent interview with Demetrious Johnson, Holloway discussed his choice to return to the featherweight division following his victory over Gaethje. The Hawaiian revealed that his return to 145 pounds might be a short-term decision and that he could potentially face Makhachev next year.
"Blessed" stated that going up against Makhachev would be akin to facing UFC Hall of Famer Khabib Nurmagomedov, calling it a significant opportunity that could further elevate his already storied career.
You’ve got to do great things,” Holloway said. "We had that fight booked with Khabib a while back. They call Islam the Khabib 2.0, so I want all the taste. I want all the smoke. It’d be an honor to fight that guy and try to etch my name in the history book. First thing’s first is Ilia. If I had my choice, why not? Why not be able to fight Islam?
Islam never ever wanted to fight me even when I was saying I was coming up to [155 pounds]. After fighting the guy that he was supposed to fight next, he still was saying, I don’t know why I would fight him. But then, recently, his tone changed, and he was like, Oh yeah if I can get past Topuria, he’d be open to fighting me. I was like, OK, that’s all we needed. We just needed that little crack in the door. I’ll squeeze my way through the rest; don’t worry about it.
Makhachev is riding high after his third successful lightweight title defense, having secured a submission victory over Dustin Poirier at UFC 302 in June. The Dagestani is anticipated to face Arman Tsarukyan, likely at UFC 311 next year, although no official announcement has been made by the promotion as of yet.