UFC featherweight champion Max Holloway earned a shot to defend his title at Saturday’s, Dec. 2, UFC 218. The event went down inside the Little Caesars Arena in Detroit, Michigan and Holloway headlined the card in a highly anticipated title fight rematch.
Holloway was initially set to face off against former UFC lightweight champion Frankie Edgar in the night’s main event. However, Edgar suffered an injury that forced the fighter to pull out of the event. Hearing the news, former champion and former opponent Jose Aldo stepped up on short notice to face off for the title once more.
Holloway put on a stunning performance over his opponent at UFC 218, earning a third round TKO submission over “Scarface.” Holloway first faced off against Aldo at UFC 212, in which the fighter unified his interim title with a third round TKO finish over Aldo.
Speaking at the UFC 218 post-fight press conference, Max Holloway revealed that he has plans to take over multiple UFC divisions in the future.
When asked if the champion has plans to move up to the 155 pound division, Holloway retorted:
“The only thing that’s going to stop me is medically, or I can’t make the weight. I’m not going to force my body to do something it doesn’t want to. I’ll go up to 155. I was talking to Michael Bisping and them on the (FS1 post-fight) show, and Michael was like, ‘Can you win another title?’ … I was like, ‘Michael, you’re cutting Maxi Baby short.’ Us Hawaiians love to eat. I want to go for four titles – (155), 170, 185. I might even be at heavyweight one day. You guys know our eating habits are bad in Hawaii. One day I might make history.”
With that in mind, Max Holloway intends to secure his place as one of the greatest featherweights by first taking out the division.
“This is what champions do. Champions defend. You’re not a champion until you defend your title. I always want to bring stability (to the division). I want to prove to people, if you want to be a champion, this is how you do it. It took me 10 fights to get an interim belt and 11 to get the undisputed. I don’t want anybody else to go through that. I want to be like (Demetrious Johnson), the guys pop up and you get sent down to the bottom of the barrel, brother. Keep trying to catch up.”
The only fighter to ever simultaneously hold multiple titles in the UFC is Conor McGregor. After earning a stunning knockout victory over Jose Aldo for the featherweight title, “Notorious” made his way to the lightweight division. The fighter would go on to defeat Eddie Alvarez for the lightweight title. The UFC forced McGregor to vacate his featherweight title shortly after, but the fighter is still the reigning UFC lightweight champion.
