Former undisputed featherweight champion, Max Holloway remains open to the possibility of a return to the lightweight limit following his UFC Fight Night Kansas City main event against Arnold Allen – claiming he can still mix it up with the upper-echelon contenders at 155lbs.
Holloway, the current #2 ranked featherweight contender, is slated to headline UFC Fight Night Kansas City this weekend in Missouri, taking on the surging, promotional-perfect contender, Allen in a pivotal, potential title-eliminator at the featherweight limit.
A former undisputed featherweight champion, Hawaiian favorite, Holloway dropped his third career defeat to current division titleholder, Alexander Volkanovski back in July of last year at UFC 276, suffering a one-sided unanimous decision loss to the Australian during International Fight Week.
Without a victory since November 2021, Holloway managed to hand a unanimous decision loss to current interim featherweight champion, Yair Rodríguez at the UFC Apex facility in a main event slot.
Max Holloway plotting incoming lightweight climb
Weighing up a potential move to the lightweight division off the back of his main event clash with Allen, Holloway pointed to his interim title rematch with former champion, Dustin Poirier at UFC 236 in 2019, where he suffered a back-and-forth decision defeat.
“I mean, I would love to fight and get busy at 155 [pounds],” Max Holloway told assembled media ahead of UFC Fight Night Kansas City. “Like I said – it’s not that far off, man. I mean, I had a very competitive fight with (Dustin) Poirier in the rematch, and he used to be [a] top three in the world at 155 right now?”
“And then, you know, Alex (Alexander Volkanovski) did his thing against Islam (Makhachev),” Max Holloway explained. “Again, styles make fights. We’re proving that, like – we’re right there amongst the top. So, at the end of the day, I don’t know, bro. But I am Polynesian, I’m Samoan-Hawaiian – we love food. So, I think gaining weight is not going to be a problem.”
And ahead of UFC Fight Night Kansas City, Holloway claimed that he was a better fighter than the above-mentioned, Volkanovski despite suffering three losses to him — remaining open to the possibility of a fourth championship fight with him.