Written by Photo by Cooper Neill/Zuffa LLC via Getty Images
Max Holloway is no stranger to creating viral moments whenever he sets foot in the octagon, but it’s hard to deny his last-second knockout over Justin Gaethje at UFC 300 is probably his most memorable.
Already up big on the scorecards and cruising towards a lopsided unanimous decision win, Holloway still threw caution to the wind after he pointed to the canvas and invited Gaethje to just throw down with him in the waning seconds of the fight. That move paid off because Holloway blasted Gaethje with a final punch that sent the former interim lightweight champion crashing face-first to the canvas with one second left on the clock and jaws were on the floor from anybody and everybody watching how it all unfolded.
So as he approaches his next appearance at UFC 318, where he faces Dustin Poirier in his retirement fight, is Holloway willing to do the same thing again?
“One hundred percent,” Holloway told MMA Fighting. “With Dustin, he’s a point down guy, too. So I wouldn’t be surprised if he started it, if he initiated it. At the end of the day, I mean you’ve got to.
“If we get to the fifth round with the 10 seconds left, I think he might beat me to it and point down first. For sure, I’m going to happily accept that any day of the week.”
Pointing to the canvas and welcoming a slugfest has effectively become Holloway’s signature move after doing the same thing when he fought Ricardo Lamas back in 2016.
As much as he loves how that has become part of his legend, Holloway selfishly admits that providing something so memorable also gives him the chance to get exactly what he wants in the end. At UFC 300, Holloway became the most talked-about fighter on one of the biggest cards of all time.
If he can do something similar to Poirier at UFC 318, Holloway believes he not only gets another iconic knockout win, but puts himself in a position to potentially battle for the lightweight title sooner rather than later.
“You and I know we live in a sport where moments are king,” Holloway said. “If I can go out there and I can have a UFC 300 moment again, come here July 19, who’s to say I’m not right there for an undisputed title shot again?
“If I can go out there and create a moment, create a moment close to 300 — imagine I go out there and do my thing and I have a thing like 300, a 10-second knockout — I’m right back in there with the title shot, title talks.”
Holloway doesn’t need any extra motivation to get a title shot, but knowing that Ilia Topuria now stands tall as champion definitely adds a little extra push to earning that opportunity.
After knocking out Gaethje at UFC 300, Holloway suffered the first knockout loss of his career when Topuria put him down at UFC 308 this past October. There’s no bad blood or lingering disdain towards Topuria for getting the job done, but Holloway was understandably excited when learning he might get another crack at “El Matador” now that they’re competing in a new weight class together.
“I was ecstatic when they announced he was fighting for the undisputed title against who he was fighting with,” Holloway said about Topuria’s recent win over Charles Oliveira at UFC 317. “I have history with both men so I was like brother, I’ve just got to go out there and do my job and hopefully here soon we find out where the lay of the land is looking.”
Holloway was already impressed with Topuria before they fought so he wasn’t surprised to see his former foe go out and dispatch Oliveira the way he did in June. Topuria demolished Oliveira with a brutal one-two punch combination in the first round that crowned him as the new lightweight champion.
While he will gladly fight whoever has the the belt, Holloway would love the chance to avenge a past loss and now that’s possible with Topuria as champion.
“Who didn’t see that fight?” Holloway said. “I wasn’t able to watch it live because we were training during that time but after the session, we got to watch it and I was like damn. It went exactly like how I thought. I wouldn’t be surprised if he did that to Charles and I wouldn’t be surprised if Charles somehow won with catching him in a submission or hurting him and then submitting him.
“At the end of the day, he looked very good. He’s doing what he’s doing and it’s all respect to him. We have history. I go out there, I do some type of moment, you know how this sport goes and I’m right back in there.”
For Holloway to have his moment and possibly insert himself into the title talk conversation, he’s going to have to send Poirier packing off a loss in the final fight of his career.
After making his UFC debut against Poirier back in 2012 and then engaging in a Fight of the Year candidate in their rematch seven years later, Holloway has a lot of respect and admiration for his opponent on Saturday. Unfortunately for Poirier, Holloway isn’t going to roll over and play dead for anybody, so he plans on sending the Louisiana native into retirement off a loss.
“It sucks to be spoiler but it has to be done,” Holloway said. “When he’s riding off into the sunset, I’m still going to be here chugging along, trying to get a title shot or trying to become a double-champ and make history.
“At the end of the day, I’ve got to go out there and do my thing. It sucks that it has to be this one, it has to be Dustin’s last one but that’s the way the cards unfold.”