Max Holloway does not understand why it took him so long to get the featherweight title shot. Although he gives Ilia Topuria due credit for beating Alexander Volkanovski, something he couldn’t do himself, the BMF champion believes that the UFC protected the Spaniard from him.
Since losing to ‘Volk’ in 2022, the Hawaiian has had to fight other contenders just to be considered for the title shot, each one more brutal than the last, something fans have come to expect of their BMF champion. But it didn’t matter because a title shot was never even on the horizon for him to go on a wild goose chase.
But a wild goose chase is what he went on and that led to him to the BMF title fight with Jusin Gaethje at UFC 300. And the moment, he knocked out Gaethje with one second to go in the fight, it was obvious to everyone that featherweight champion had officially been put on notice.
However, not having forgotten the unwarranted delay, Holloway called out the organization for protecting the Spaniard from him in a recent YouTube video,
“But I believe that the UFC made me fight every other contender at 45 except him for a reason. And, we’re here now and I’m going to prove, come October 25, why the UFC was shelling him away from me.”
Holloway believes that while the UFC has protected Topuria for so long, it will not matter as he’s at the temple gates now and the Spaniard’s time was running out.
All that said, for Holloway, this is probably his last chance to fight for the title. If he ends up losing to the Spaniard, he will most probably have to wait till there’s a new champion in the division for another title shot.
However, if he does end up overcoming the challenge of Ilia Topuria, his name will be cemented in the history books as one of, if not the greatest featherweight fighters in the UFC.
So he’s leaving no stone unturned to win the title back. And the first step towards that goal is, good old trash talk.
Holloway calls out Topuria’s poor fight IQ
Holloway has made a name for himself by his trademark move. When there’s not much time left on the clock in a round, he points at the center of the octagon challenging his opponent to a showdown.
The two fighters then take center stage and just swing wildly at each other, with the aim of finishing the fight for good. So when Topuria claimed that he would do the gesture 10 seconds into the fight, Holloway seemed rather confused by it.
In a recent interview with ESPN MMA, Holloway reacted to the statement and asked the Spaniard to ‘work on his brain instead’.
“I saw an interview of him saying, ‘bring the last 10 seconds to the first 10 seconds of the fight’….His fight IQ may not be there, but his athleticism and his power and his strength is there. Might be lacking in his fight IQ….work on your brain my guy.”
‘Blessed’ called out the champion for not being too smart by wanting to start off the fight swinging wildly. The Hawaii native does not see the logic in it.
