Max Holloway still focused on getting his “’45 title back” despite moving up to lightweight at UFC 300

Max Holloway still has plans to become the featherweight champion again.

Holloway is set to return to the Octagon at UFC 300 against Justin Gaethje at lightweight for the BMF title. It’s a highly-anticipated fight and many fans thought it meant the beginning of Holloway making a permanent move to lightweight.

The Hawaiian fought at lightweight at UFC 236 against Dustin Poirier for the interim title, but after the loss, returned to the featherweight, due to him being the champion. Although the focus is on Gaethje, Holloway says reclaiming his featherweight title is still something he desires.

“First things first is Justin Gaethje, that’s on my mind. I’m not thinking about what happens after, if everything goes great, what comes with that, like I said earlier in this, it’s just options, I have an option. I really want that ’45 title back, I really want that ’45 title back, I’ll go back for it, whoever it is,” Max Holloway said to ESPN. “I’ll get my title shot, I’ll go back there and get it. If I open up shots at ’55, then why not? If we are doing it the smart way and the right way, and I’m able to compete in both divisions, why not do it? That is what true BMF guys do, I’m excited for it.”

Although Max Holloway still wants to become the featherweight champion again, many fans have wondered if he loses to Justin Gaethje at UFC 300 how that would impact his standing at 145lbs.

However, Holloway says he doesn’t care about that, and instead is just excited to fight someone like Gaethje. The Hawaiian says these are the fights that excite him and he’s excited to go test himself against Gaethje.

“This is the kind of fights that intrigue me, gets me happy. When I don’t want to get up, I think about who I’m fighting, like brother you need to get to the gym now because this guy ain’t sleeping. At the end of the day, I’m excited, this is one of the fights that really gets me going,” Holloway said.

Max Holloway is currently ranked first at featherweight and coming off a KO win over Korean Zombie in August. Before that, he scored a decision win over Arnold Allen to return to the win column after losing for the third time to Alexander Volkanovski.