Max Holloway confident he’s still ‘right in the mix’ at lightweight

Earlier this week, UFC featherweight Max Holloway implied that we could see him in the lightweight division again.

“Lightweight was great. Lightweight was fun,” he said at Tactical Strength and Conditioning on Monday (transcript via Hawaii News Now). “155 was 155. Just like how 170 will be 170, just like how when I make my heavyweight debut, it’s gonna be a heavyweight debut. It is what it is. Weight is weight, I don’t care. I’m a modern day gladiator. Back in the day, gladiators didn’t ask you about your weight. They just showed up to the arena and they fought. That’s what I do every night.”

In a more recent conversation with MMA Junkie, Max Holloway all but confirmed that he will return to the lightweight division again in the future.

No, in a twist that should surprise absolutely nobody, the tenacious Hawaiian was not scared off from the division by his UFC 236 loss to Dustin Poirier. In fact, he believes he resides among the top contenders in the division. Given his gritty performance against Poirier, it’s hard to disagree with him.

“Birds fly, fishes swim, I fight. It ain’t nothing. You send me a contract with Daniel Cormier’s name on top tomorrow, you know I’m signing it. ‘DC’ I love you, my man, but I’m a fighter. It is what it is. This is a bump in the road and I can’t wait to get back. ’55 is still there. ’55 there’s a lot of challenges,” Max Holloway said.

“When I lost to Dustin the first time at ’45, the ladder was so long to the belt. But the ’55 ladder, it’s right there. I’m in the mix. If I go up there I feel I’ll be right in the mix with all the top contenders. No disrespect to them, but I think it’s a fun weight class to be. We’ll see what happens.”

Before any prospective return to the lightweight division can occur, Max Holloway will attempt to defend his featherweight strap against Frankie Edgar at UFC 240 this July.

This article first appeared on BJPENN.COM on 5/29/2019.