Max Holloway is considering a permanent move to lightweight after losing to Ilia Topuria at UFC 308.
Holloway suffered his first career knockout loss in the main event of UFC 308 on Saturday at the Etihad Arena in Abu Dhabi, when his featherweight title challenge against Topuria failed. ‘Blessed’ appeared to have the upper hand on the scorecards in the third round when Topria caught him against the cage in characteristic fashion and landed a devastating knockout blow.
This was Holloway’s third failed attempt to regain the strap after losing it to Alexander Volkanovski in 2019. Holloway wiped out nearly the entire veteran featherweight guard, save for Volkanovski and Topuria. With an 0-3 record against Volkanovski and a failed fight with Topuria, Holloway feels like there’s not much left for him at 145 pounds.
Meanwhile, Holloway got his latest shot at winning the iconic BMF title against Justin Gaethje in a lightweight bout at UFC 300 in April of this year. The Hawaiian is in no rush to make a decision just yet, but believes cutting weight is the way to go. Holloway has a chance to fight exciting young featherweights like Diego Lopez and Movsar Evloev, but the former featherweight champion’s size at 155 pounds seems more appealing.
“We’re all going to sit down and relax with the team. There’s no need to rush back right now,” Holloway said in his postgame press conference. “We’ll probably come back in the summer. The big card in July, yeah, in Las Vegas, do something. Let’s see what happens, I mean. [155 pounds] I’m feeling really good right now…I’ll talk to the team, let’s see…I was great [145-pound] I’ll cut it here, but I mean, what else is there to do? I’ve been able to get it back a few times. We’ll have some new players, so that’s going to be fun. But ’55 looks more fun because you can fight more. [for] The talent, everyone there, the names that are there, I’m really looking forward to putting my name in there. ”
