At UFC 300, former featherweight king, Max Holloway delivered one of the best moments in recent combat sports history by knocking out Justin Gaethje, in the last second of the fight! This finish not only earned him the ‘BMF’ belt, it also skyrocketed his stocks. But why did he do that, the whole pointing to the center of the octagon for a 10-second blitzkrieg even when he was winning convincingly on points?
Well, in a recent conversation with Daniel Cormier, Holloway explained why he decided to risk it all to stand and bang with a killer like Gaethje.
Holloway stated that he had immense respect for ‘The Highlight.’ Even though he tasted Gaethje’s power earlier in that fight, he wanted to give Gaethje a fighting chance since he didn’t need to take the UFC 300 fight as he already had a guaranteed title shot.
“He didn’t have to fight me, he had a title shot, he had a guaranteed title shot whenever he was next, right? But you know, he took that challenge, he took me and it was his belt…So, I was like, ‘this guy is a standup guy if the roles are reversed he’d give me a shot so, why not give it to him.”
Meanwhile, his next opponent, Ilia Topuria took the finger-pointing and brawling to hear and threw a couple of sly jabs at Holloway, implying that the Hawaiian won’t be extending the same courtesy to him because he knows he’ll be KOed!
Topuria goes after Holloway – “He’s already knocked out”
While both Topuria and Holloway teased a brawl in the middle of the octagon, Holloway on Wednesday’s media day said that the Spaniard did not deserve a shootout with him.
View this post on Instagram
He deemed that the champion hadn’t earned that level of respect. To which, Topuria responded by saying that Holloway is wary of his patented KO power and is going back on his word. H
“He’s already backing out. If he brawls with me, he’s already knocked out. He’s already knocked out.”
He added more ammunition, deeming that the only thing that makes the Hawaiian relevant is his BMF belt, and took an infra dig at him for not putting it on the line.
Now, while the champ is supremely confident in his ability, and technique, one just cannot sleep on Holloway as he is the UFC’s ‘BMF’. Oh, well, UFC 308 will decide that, won’t it?
