Michael Bisping sees new life for Max Holloway at lightweight.
Holloway (26-8 MMA, 22-8 UFC) failed to regain the featherweight title when he was knocked out by champion Ilia Topuria this past Saturday in the UFC 308 headliner. The loss to Topuria marked the first time Holloway was ever stopped by strikes in his career.
Prior to the Topuria loss, Holloway scored an iconic last-second knockout of Justin Gaethje to capture the BMF title at UFC 300. The win placed him No. 5 in the UFCās lightweight rankings, and thatās where Bisping thinks Holloway should put all of his focus moving forward.
āThe time is done. That ship has sailed: Move on,ā Bisping said of Hollowayās featherweight days on his āBelieve You Meā podcast. "Youāre getting older. The weight cutās tougher. Youāve had a couple of losses. You almost became the champion again. You looked incredible against Justin Gaethje ā you took his shots, you knocked him out cold. Heās ranked No. (5) at lightweight. Thereās a lot of fun fights for (Holloway) at 155 pounds.
āThereās Dan Hooker, thereās (Dustin) Poirier, thereās Gaethje, Charles Oliviera ā which by the way, them three would all be rematches, which is wild. Arman Tsarukyan, he fights Islam (Makhachev) ā thereās nothing but big fights for (Holloway) at 155 pounds. And given that heās ranked No. 5 already, one, two fights, Max Holloway is trying to become a champion at 155 pounds. So itās far from over.ā
Holloway himself appears to have acknowledged that a move back up to lightweight is the best next step for him.
āI had the best 145 cut here,ā Holloway said during the UFC 308 post-fight news conference. āBut what else is there to do? I had a couple times to reclaim it. New guys coming up. Yeah, thatād be fun. But I think 155 looks more fun, fighting more, the caliber, everyone there, and the names there ā it looks really exciting to put my name in the mix.ā
Holloway already had one crack at the lightweight title when he faced Dustin Poirier for the interim belt in April 2019. He lost the bout by unanimous decision.
Logical move IMHO
Should have made the move to 155 permanently after his third to defeat to Volkanovski in my view.
Wonder if draining himself back to 145 affected his chin or if it was just that Topuria has so much more power than anyone he has previously faced at that weight before.
Max Holloway has created a significant legacy for himself in the featherweight division, but it appears the final visual of him in the weight class he helped build will be a knockout loss to Ilia Topuria.
In the aftermath of his first stoppage loss due to strikes in the UFC 308 headliner this month, Holloway (26-7 MMA, 22-7 UFC) teased he was going to move up to the lightweight division permanently. Heās competed there twice under the UFC banner in the past, losing a thrilling decision to Dustin Poirier in 2019 then scoring an all-time knockout against Justin Gaethje at UFC 300 in April.
After taking time to reflect on the loss to Topuria and where it puts him in his career, Holloway has made the decision to say farewell to featherweight and focus all his efforts on making a run at 155 pounds.
āThis is like my phoenix moment, from the ashes weāre reborn,ā Holloway said Saturday on his YouTube channel. āWeāre on to bigger, better stuff and walking through a new door and starting a new chapter. Iām a big believer in never say never, and the big question now is, āWas that your last fight at 145?ā You guys saw me touch upon it in the press conference, and I can honestly say I think Iām done with 145. Your boy is only getting older. I turn 33. This cut ā no excuses. This cut was easy, bro. Shout out to my wife. They helped make this cut really easy, but it takes a tole cutting weight, period. No matter what weight you are.
āI had to give up ramen for my ā45 camps. So Iām done with that. I donāt ever want to give up ramen again. 155, here we come and 155 is where I want to stay. This is a new chapter. This is where we start. This is where we begin. I cannot wait. Like I said, never say never. But I can honestly look you guys in the eye and tell you guys Iām probably not ever going back to ā45. I love what I did. I did what I did. I did what I had to do there. I worked my way back, I clawed my back to the championship fight multiple times there. I was a champion. I defended at that weight. Now itās time to move on to the next chapter, and 155 thereās a bunch of fun fights that I cannot wait to take.ā
Holloway expressed excitement to dive into a physical transformation of moving up. He admitted he never was able to fully commit to it in his previous divisional appearances because he knew there were still featherweight fights in his future, but thatās no longer the case.
āWhen I do make the return itās going to be at 155 and weāre there to stay,ā Holloway said. āEven the version of myself you saw at 155 against Gaethje is not the full version. We had the idea of going back to ā45 because I wanted that world title. I canāt wait for the future. If you thought that version of myself against Gaethje at 300 was good ā I canāt wait to get in the lab with my coaches and put some size on.ā
Holloway said he is targeting a summer 2025 return to competition, and is open to all options. He could defend the BMF title, take marquee contender fight or go another direction. Itās too soon for Holloway to start naming opponents given his plans for time off, but he knows there will be plenty of solid possibilities on the table for his return.
āIf I got to choose a timeline, International Fight Week,ā Holloway said. āI would love to be back on the Ninth Island in Las Vegas. Huge card is International Fight Week. I donāt know who is going to be available at that time. With me being ranked at ā55 is great. Hopefully I can fight somebody in front of me, get a big win and who knows? Might be knocking on the door of a title fight at 155.ā
I donāt see max beating Islam but he might become a top 5 fighter really soon. Hopefully Iām wrong and he beats Islam. He needs to ease into the new weight class though. Get a couple of tune up figjts to get used to the bigger guys
Maybe a combination of both.
I didnāt expect it to go down that way.
This
He needs to gauge where he is at in terms of size/strength/power and then give himself time to make adjustments between camps.
Same seeing Holloway KOed like that was shocking.
Max could stay at 145 and just have fun fights too. Of fun figjts at 155
There are tons of great fights for him at 155
Feed patty to him!
Havenāt heard that name in a bit. Forgot all about him really.
Dana wonāt break his new toy like that though, he will bring him up slowly.
How about Moicano vs Max?
Good idea. After having such a great 155 performance, he should not have gone back down. He looked healthy vs Justin. He looked frail vs Toppy