Max Holloway News

Justin Golightly - November 21, 2017

When Max Holloway stepped into the cage with former featherweight king Jose Aldo for the first time, he took Aldo out in the third round. Something was missing though, which caused a lot of people to ask, ‘What if?’ Absent were the infamous and thundering leg kicks from the previous champ. It is one of Aldo’s most dangerous weapons, but he wasn’t able to implement them coming into the fight with Holloway due to a leg injury. After Max Holloway spoke up about it recently, Jose Aldo breaks his silence on the matter and vows he’s in perfect condition. “I don’t think there was any cowardice. Every time I’m in there that’s the best Aldo possible. [Max] Holloway was a great fighter that night and was able to win. He deserved it. There’s no excuse. ‘Dede’ [Pederneiras] talked about [my leg injury] because it happened in training, but if I’m in there, that’s the best Aldo available. There’s no excuse. He won because he deserved to win. I’m in perfect condition. There are always small injuries, but nothing that takes any weapon away. I’m kicking, punching, I’m dong everything now. There are no serious injuries. You can expect the best kickboxing, the best muay thai.”

Adam Conklin - November 20, 2017

The penultimate UFC PPV of 2017 will feature one of the most important featherweight championship fights in history. Defending champion Max Holloway will put his belt on the line for the first time in a rematch against former champ, Jose Aldo. The belt changed hands in their first fight as Holloway escaped early trouble to come back and put Aldo away in the third.

Justin Golightly - November 18, 2017

Frankie Edgar challenging Max Holloway was a fight everyone wanted to see. The two somehow haven’t fought yet and Edgar — along with Chad Mendes — were perpetually switching out for the second best featherweight in the world next to Jose Aldo. When an injury forced him out of his third chance at the title at UFC 218, the former champ was subbed in for a rematch with Holloway. Cub Swanson was in the running for awhile, but one name missing from the equation was Ricardo Lamas. He opened up about the scenario in a recent interview with Luke Thomas. .@RicardoLamasMMA explains why he should have been in the running for a title shot against Max Holloway#TLTS@lthomasnews pic.twitter.com/Dn6YlvC5dE

Justin Golightly - November 17, 2017

It is what it is! Dropping soon! @moskova pic.twitter.com/cCliKDFnfA — Max Holloway (@BlessedMMA) November 17, 2017

Justin Golightly - November 16, 2017

Frankie Edgar had to pull out of his title fight with Max Holloway at UFC 218, but a rematch against Jose Aldo isn’t bad at all for a late replacement. Of course, Edgar would rather it be him, but a broken orbital in training forced him out of the bout. For now, he is back on the sidelines waiting for his crack at the belt once again and giving his insight into the match-up. The former UFC lightweight champion thinks Holloway comes away with his hands raised against Aldo for the second time. “I think [Max] Holloway is going to get it done, but [Jose] Aldo is always dangerous, so you never know. Yeah, for sure I got a message for the winner. I’m coming for that belt man. I’ve not changed my goals. I want to become a two weight champion and I know I’m close to it. I’m just going to get back fit and get it done. […] I think [Max Holloway] understands that it was something out of my hands. I think he understands that and I’m not one to ever back out of anything. I’ve been wanting this shot for a very long time so if anyone is upset about it, it’s going to be myself. I knew it was going to be one of those guys. I don’t know how they come to their decisions, but no, I wasn’t really surprised that they picked Aldo. For sure, it makes more sense that I fight Holloway. Those guys will figure it though. When they fought last time I said they would figure it out and that the true champ would come out. I know I’ll fight the winner.”

Justin Golightly - November 15, 2017

The UFC featherweight title lottery is finally over after Frankie Edgar was forced to bow out of the fight. Max Holloway will defend his belt at UFC 218 against the same man he took it away from at UFC 212: Jose Aldo. For awhile, it looked like Cub Swanson was the clear choice to step up to finally get his shot at the title, but things didn’t work out that way. Swanson will stay in his fight with Brian Ortega at UFC Fresno, which is the last fight on his contract. This begs the question, will Swanson explore free agency after the title shot snub? It sure sounds like it. “[Not giving me the Max Holloway fight because I was going into free agency] was never going to be an issue because I knew and they know that the fight wouldn’t happen unless we made a deal, which I’m sure we could have made a deal. But that wasn’t even offered. I haven’t been offered a new deal since all this happened [with UFC 218]. Dana did say that he’d like try to work something out, sit down and talk after the fight [with Brian Ortega], no matter what happens he said he wants to keep me around, but we could have came to terms before and made this fight happen and they know that.”

Justin Golightly - November 14, 2017

Max Holloway defending his new strap against Frankie Edgar is something everyone was waiting for. Somehow, amid the 11 fighters Holloway took out on his quest for the belt, he never ran into him. Unfortunately, as Edgar geared up for his third shot at the belt and his first fight with Holloway, an injured orbital took him out of the UFC 218 bout. It’s an injury that Edgar admits feels like he lost a fight, but he’ll be back on his quest for gold sooner rather than later. “I definitely feel f-cking bummed and in a funk for the past couple of days. I feel like I lost a fight to be honest. I know these opportunities don’t always present themselves. I’m also not one to stay down, be negative and beat myself up about things. I’m going to heal up, keep training and make sure I’m ready for that fight when it comes. I’m a guy who keeps a positive outlook on things. I’m not going to sit around feeling sorry for myself, and I don’t expect anyone to feel sorry for me either. This is just the type of sh-t that goes down. It’s inevitable. I train at a high level out here with some really good guys and shit happens. There wasn’t any negligence on my part. I train hard for fights and I always have.”

Tom Taylor - November 13, 2017

Originally, UFC featherweight champion Max Holloway was expected to battle long-time contender Frankie Edgar in the main event of UFC 218 this December 2. Unfortunately, Edgar was forced out of this fight with an injury, which jumpstarted an immediate search for a replacement opponent. After a brief search and plenty of guesses as to who Holloway would fight, the UFC ultimately called on Jose Aldo – the very man Holloway defeated to win the undisputed featherweight crown back in June.

Justin Golightly - November 9, 2017

News hit last night that Frankie Edgar unfortunately had to drop out of his title fight with Max Holloway at UFC 218 because of a facial injury that requires surgery. Immediately there was an incredible swarm of fighters coming out to try and take advantage of Edgar’s misfortune. Cub Swanson was the first on the buzzer, hoping to avenge his loss and finally get a chance at gold. Both Jose Aldo and Ricardo Lamas have also expressed interest in leaving their fight together at UFC Winnipeg to potentially capture Holloway’s UFC featherweight title. His management just released a statement of the names in consideration, but stress that the champ is down to fight anyone. When you become the champ the right way, the division is cleaned out… Choices are limited but we’ll fight anyone. Cub, Ortega, Ferguson, Conor… we’re just waiting on the call. Respect to @frankieedgar who truly deserved this fight and wishing him a speedy recovery. #blessedera #ufc218 #represented #Repost @blessedmma ・・・ Injuries are part of this fight game. Frankies the man. Wish him a speedy recovery. Detroit, you guys are a bunch of tough mfers. I met many of you last month when we visited. You guys deserve the best fight card of the year and youre still gonna get it. I’m fighting no matter what. Santa is still coming early to Detroit, so get ready. Malice in the palace part 2 if we have to. I’ll see you soon.

Justin Golightly - November 8, 2017

We were hit tonight with a speeding comet of bad news for UFC 218. Max Holloway was set to defend his unified UFC featherweight title for the first time after conquering former divisional king Jose Aldo, but Frankie Edgar suffered an injury to his face and had to pull out of the match-up. Don’t worry too much though, after everyone started worrying that UFC Detroit would lose it’s main even altogether, Max Holloway went to Twitter to declare he’s still going to fight no matter what. Mood! Time to step up. #BlessedERA pic.twitter.com/TwVTCnzsRp

Justin Golightly - November 8, 2017

The big story tonight is Frankie Edgar having to pull out of his fight with Max Holloway. It would have been the third time that Edgar would challenge for the UFC featherweight title, but now the gold has slipped away from his grasp once again. He’ll have to wait and heal up before his fight with Holloway can be re-booked, but until then there are plenty of people ready, willing and able to step in to challenge for that featherweight strap. Unfortunately, all of them already are booked for fights. Although, that doesn’t seem to matter. I’m down. ‍♂️ #ufc218

Justin Golightly - November 8, 2017

We’re still trying to catch our breath from hearing the news. Frankie Edgar finally got another shot at UFC featherweight gold in a super hyped scrap with Max Holloway at UFC 218. Unfortunately, it’s not going to happen. Edgar has to undergo surgery due to an injury to his face and had to pull-out of the contest. He has just issued a statement on his Instagram about the removal from the event and seems to be in good spirits given the circumstances. While the injury hasn’t been specified yet, it looks like it may have something to do with Edgar’s eye in the photo, perhaps an orbital. Hit with a minor setback but should be back to full contact in six weeks or so. Thanks to the @ufc for always having my back. Max I’ll see you down the road. #Believe

Justin Golightly - November 8, 2017

Are you sitting down? If you’re not, you may want to and grab some Kleenex while you’re at it. Just when you thought it was safe to get on the internet, the MMA world gets some heartbreaking news. Former UFC featherweight challenger Frankie Edgar is out of his fight with Max Holloway at UFC 218. According to Combate, he suffered an injury to his face that will require some surgery. Once again, Edgar unfortunately loses out on his shot at UFC gold. Confirmed with source Frankie Edgar is off UFC 218. First reported by @canalCombate. I’m guessing Holloway stays on card, we’ll see.

Justin Golightly - October 27, 2017

Max Holloway came back like a man possessed after losing a decision to Conor McGregor early in his career. He hasn’t lost since. Holloway miraculously knocked off each and every contender that the UFC put in front of him, until he was no longer denied a shot at a belt. Now that he’s dethroned the former featherweight king Jose Aldo, he can reap the benefits of being a UFC champion. With his newfound fame and cash flow, he decided to bless his mom with a new truck. Via @Procast: That feeling when moms gets emotional when you “bless” her with a gift… 😭😭😭

Justin Golightly - October 12, 2017

A fight that could be more important than Max Holloway’s win over Jose Aldo is fast approaching in December. He’ll be defending the title for the first time against Frankie Edgar on a stacked Detroit event, the guy that everyone said Conor McGregor avoided while he was at featherweight. However, the UFC may have had another plan in mind, or at least a back-up plan to a back-up plan. During Holloway’s recent contract renegotiation, the UFC gauged his interest in moving up to lightweight to potentially challenge McGregor. “If [the fight with Conor McGregor] happens, it happens. He said 155. When we were talking about the contract, UFC came to me and they were talking about 155. They also talked to me about Conor a little bit. They were asking me about it and then they came to me with the Frankie [Edgar] fight and it was weird. We got the Frankie fight, like I said, I wanted this a year ago. Now, we got to fight Frankie, he’s got the fight now. When we were talking about the contract they said, ‘What about [155] would you go up there?’ Then they asked about Conor. If they wanted me to go up there and fight him, I’d fight him any day. They kept talking about it, but at the end of the day Frankie was the one.”

Justin Golightly - October 10, 2017

Okay, we have to talk about what Demetrious Johnson did at UFC 216. By now, even your parents and friends who have never watched the UFC had to have sent you the video on Facebook screaming, ‘Did you see this?!’. Of course you did. Mighty Mouse catapulted Ray Borg up into the air and then slapped on an armbar, submitting him and breaking Anderson Silva’s defense record. I was amazing. We’re still freaking out about it and so is UFC featherweight champion Max Holloway, who geeked out about it to Ariel Helwani and partly to Johnson himself was on the line. “Congrats on the amazing ninja sh-t you did. Congrats [Demetrious Johnson]. You’re a beast, man, I couldn’t believe my eyes what I saw on Saturday night [at UFC 216]. I had to watch it like a thousand times. I think he’s the best, I think he’s the GOAT. He’s going out there and he’s doing phenomenal things. He’s making everyone look like they’re not even in a league of his own. It reminds you of the Ronda Rousey era, everyone’s befuddled about what’s going on and he’s doing it against these other guys who are great. The 125 [division] is brand new, you don’t know who the ex-champs is so you can’t say he fought ex-champs. Bla bla, that’s what everyone is arguing about. This guy is the best in the world to keep competing in the UFC and keep doing what he’s doing.”

Justin Golightly - October 4, 2017

Now that the bout that we said was slated for UFC 218 is official, we can finally start drooling over Frankie Edgar fighting Max Holloway for real. It’s an incredible match-up and a true test for the new featherweight champion. Jose Aldo is the only man in the division who has ever beat Edgar, with Holloway being one of the only guys he hasn’t fought yet. It’s a fight that needs to happen and gets to happen exactly at the perfect time. The early odds released for the title fight in Detroit have Max Holloway edging out Frankie as the favorite. Per @MMAOddsBreaker, Max Holloway will open a -205 betting favorite over Frankie Edgar (+165) in their 145-pound title fight at UFC 218.

Justin Golightly - October 4, 2017

On Friday last week, Conor McGregor made his first major public appearance since his boxing match with Floyd Mayweather. We didn’t learn much from the man, other than he has options open to pretty much fight anyone he wants to in his UFC return, but we already knew that. Out of the about seven names mentioned, Max Holloway was one of them. The “champ champ” took out time to praise Holloway and didn’t rule out a rematch. However, it’d have to be in the 155-pound division. “I sonned that young boy. I’m not mad at [Max Holloway]. He’s done a great job. He’s climbed up and claimed that featherweight belt. You see some fights, and so do the public, you see him go in there and you watch him win or lose and you watch how they act and how they carry on. He lost to me and he took it on the chin, he kept his mind frame sharp. Same with [Dustin] Poirier, he’s another guy who kept his mind frame sharp and carried on. [Eddie] Alvarez as well, he took it well – you’ve got to take it on the f-king chin.”