Max Holloway Dismisses Weight Cut Concerns Ahead of UFC 308

After authoring a career-defining moment at 155 pounds, Max
Holloway is confident he can return to the featherweight
division without issue.

After knocking out Justin
Gaethje to claim the BMF belt in a lightweight bout at UFC
300, Holloway will challenge Ilia
Topuria for the featherweight strap in the UFC 308
headliner on Oct. 26 at Etihad Arena in Abu Dhabi. The Hawaiian
star addressed concerns that he might struggle to make the cut to
145 pounds in a recent video on his YouTube channel.

“Everybody keeps talking about the weight coming into this fight.
The whole question about the last fight was the weight, and now the
whole question about this fight is the weight because of what we
did in the last fight,” Holloway said. “But it is what it is. I got
the best person behind me. I got my wife, she’s chefing it up, and
I got my man Tyler Minton back on the team. He’s going to be out
there with us fight week, and he’s one of the best guys in the
biz.

“I’ve never missed weight. I’ve never missed no weight in my whole
career, and I ain’t planning on starting to miss weight for this
fight because this fight, it took a whole lot of work to get back
here. I’ve been saying it over and over again how people said that
I shouldn’t be here, that I should have done something else, I
should focus on something else, I’m done, I’m past what I can do in
this sport. But then again, we’re here, and we’re fighting for a
world title against this new generation that they’re talking about.
So I’m excited.”

UFC 300 was only Holloway’s second venture to 155 pounds over the
course of a promotional tenure that began in 2012. Prior to facing
Gaethje, the former featherweight champion had earned victories
over Chan Sung
Jung and Arnold
Allen at 145 pounds. Holloway went 0-3 in championship bouts
against former title holder Alexander
Volkanovski, but when Topuria claimed the throne at UFC 298, it
opened the door for “Blessed” to get another opportunity at UFC
gold.

“Mine and Ilia’s fight is one of the most anticipated fights of the
year. All I can say is tune in…You’re gonna be in for a treat,” he
said. “It’s gonna be a fun fight. I can’t wait to show what we’ve
been working. A lot of people are MMA experts and they’re saying a
lot of talk. I can’t wait to go out there and show you guys what
we’ve been doing.”