Issue 209
September 2024
E. Spencer Kyte examines how Max Holloway’s relentless pursuit of the featherweight title is shaping up to be a watershed moment for MMA.
Undeniable. That was Max Holloway’s word of choice whenever the subject of his future and the featherweight title came up following his third loss to Alexander Volkanovski. The mission for the former champion was the same as it was after he dropped a narrow decision to the Australian titleholder in their rematch at UFC 251. He beat whoever he needed to beat to get another championship opportunity. The first time around, it took Holloway two fights — Calvin Kattar and Yair Rodriguez. Next came a third meeting with Volkanovski. After coming up short two years earlier, the trilogy bout was the most lopsided in the series, with Volkanovski looking as sharp as ever. Historically, fighters who drop a pair of bouts to sitting champions struggle to garner another kick at the can. The nature of the loss left many unsure about Holloway’s future. After the two ran as close to level as possible without finishing in a dead heat the second time, he got blown out of the water in the third meeting. Were years of battles starting to take their toll on Holloway? Some suggested a full-time move to lightweight. The delusional set suggested ‘Blessed’ hang up his gloves, which would never happen. Instead, Holloway focused on making himself irrefutable by proving his doubters wrong.
QUALITY WINS, QUESTIONS REMAINED
A weird thing happens in MMA when a former champion falters: everyone starts looking for proof that they’re on the downside of their career, even when their results suggest otherwise. Nine months after his UFC 276 loss to Volkanovski, Holloway returned in a five-round main event with Arnold Allen. Holloway won the fight by unanimous decision, winning the first four rounds on the scorecards. He used his range, kicked more, and kept Allen on the end of his strikes. The powerful British upstart was denied even small moments of sustained success that could be a building block to longer stretches of positive offensive output. Despite handing Allen his first UFC defeat, the victory didn’t answer questions about Holloways place in the pecking order. His effort was micro-analyzed, and Allen was retroactively regarded as someone who had made his way into contention on volume and good fortune. His wins over Hooker and Kattar become ‘yeah, but…’ victories, as if winning eight consecutive fights in any division is easy to do in the UFC. Holloway hadn’t so much proven he was still the second-best fighter in the division, as shown that Allen was not. Next came the ‘The Korean Zombie’ Chan Sung Jung, who Holloway trounced in the third round. Once more, the post-fight narrative focused more on what his opponent wasn’t rather than what Holloway was. Everything centered on how Jung was a shell of his former self. Just as he had done following his narrow defeat to Volkanovski the second time, Holloway had gone out and posted two convincing wins over highly-ranked featherweights.
A NEW PATH TO THE TITLE EMERGES
In February 2024, Ilia Topuria did in less than two rounds what Max Holloway had failed to do over the course of three fights — beat Volkanovski. Midway through the second round of their main event clash at UFC 298, Topuria had already listed himself as the UFC featherweight champion on all his social media accounts ahead of the fight. The fact that it wasn’t a razor-thin decision further punctuated that this was a changing of the guard moment. Holloway went from needing Volkanovski to abdicate the throne to potentially challenge for the featherweight title again to someone people turned to when Topuria’s next opponent was mentioned.
Volkanovski had gone unbeaten throughout his UFC run before the start of 2023, the world-class Australian talent had now dropped three of his last four, and at age 35, the whispers about his future started getting louder. A tenured champion like Volkanovski always merits an immediate rematch. Holloway had given one to Jose Aldo after their title unification clash in Rio. Volkanovski had run it back with Holloway straight away after unseating the Hawaiian. However, the wise Vokanovski was quick to articulate that he needed to take some time away after a torrid schedule and two straight knockout losses, opening the door for Holloway — the clear choice in his stead — to stand opposite Topuria wherever the new champion was ready. But Topuria bucked.
CHANGE IN TACK
Even before he had officially claimed the title, the brash 27-year-old Topuria said he didn’t want to give championship opportunities to the host of mainstays. On the one hand, it made sense, as the three champions who had successfully defended the featherweight title did so against a cast of challengers with considerable overlap. In the 10 years between 2013 and 2022, there were 14 bouts for the undisputed featherweight title, with just nine different men serving as challengers and only three (Conor McGregor, Holloway, and Volkanovski) being able to successfully unseat the reigning champ.
On the other hand, walking in and saying you’re not going to give a tenured champion like Volkanovski a rematch or test yourself against someone as credentialed as Holloway was a misstep for the surging star. As much as fans want to see fresh matchups, champions must defend their titles against the best available options as often as possible. And a featherweight title reign without fights against the two men who ruled the division for most of the previous decade seemed unconscionable. Fortunately, Holloway made all that chatter moot at UFC 300. Paired off with Justin Gaethje in a battle for the BMF title, Holloway showed he was still a dangerous threat whenever he stepped into the Octagon. If his credentials before UFC 300 were not enough to ensure he got the opportunity to challenge for the featherweight title, then his performance on the night made it clear that Topuria defending against anyone else would be ridiculous.
CAN ‘BLESSED’ BE BEST AGAIN?
There have been 18 fighters who have reclaimed championship gold in the same division in UFC history, with Randy Couture leading the way, having won the heavyweight title on three occasions and the light heavyweight title twice. Each of the last three strawweight titleholders — Rose Namajunas, Carla Esparza, and Zhang Weili — have been two-time champs. At the same time, Valentina Shevchenko just recently joined the club. Officially, lightweight is the only division where there hasn't been a two-time champion. Holloway has the opportunity to be the first to win the title for a second time at UFC 308. At the time of this writing, he’s a 2-1 underdog. He’s a soon-to-be 33-year-old challenger slated to face off with an undefeated champion five years his junior. Topuria is a scary talent — a legitimate Brazilian jiu jitsu black belt with a deft submission game, sharp, quick hands, and proven knockout power. He’s shown an excellent ability to take a shot, recover when wobbled, and can go 25 minutes without getting tired. In every way, Topuria feels like one of the individuals who could and should, perhaps, carry the UFC forward.
However, at this point, after what he did to Gaethje just a handful of months ago, it’s impossible to look at Holloway and suggest that he doesn’t have a chance. Every fight is different, and the move down to featherweight will only be more challenging now that he’s more than a year removed from making that cut the last time. Still, as much as claiming the BMF title was a statement effort and signature moment in the Hawaiian’s storied career, this is what he wanted the most. This is the thing that has been fueling him, propelling him back into the Octagon since December 14, 2019. Now, nearly five years after he lost the featherweight title, Holloway has another opportunity to win it back and potentially do it in a familiar setting. His ‘Best Boxer in the World’ moment against Kattar came in Abu Dhabi. Before UFC 300 it was arguably the signature moment of his outstanding career. If he looks anything like that guy against Topuria, or anything like the guy that dominated Gaethje, there is only one word needed to sum up Holloway’s chances of reclaiming the featherweight title at UFC 308…Undeniable.
