Max Holloway paid his dues in the Featherweight division before becoming an Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) champion.
The “Blessed” fighting Hawaiian has been a part of some of the most memorable moments in the 145-pound division’s history. Having earned multiple “Fight of the Night” awards during his UFC run, one came in a 155-pound Lightweight rematch.
Holloway, 31, fought Dustin Poirier for an interim title in April 2019. Unfortunately for the then-Featherweight kingpin, Holloway came up short via a unanimous decision in an epic war. Early on, the champion appeared to be in danger, absorbing big shots from “The Diamond.” However, the notoriously durable Holloway has now revealed he’s been largely unphased in such moments throughout his career. Only once has he actually been rocked and hurt.
“The Andre Fili fight,” Holloway said on FLAGRANT. “I can honestly say, a lot of people would watch and be like the Dustin Poirier fight, the second Dustin Poirier [fight], everybody’s like, ‘He never got dropped.’ But I hear people say the fence saved him, ’cause I was going back. But like okay, we are talking about make-believe. Okay, let’s f—king make-believe and my wings came out, we are talking about make-believe land, the cage is there for a reason.
“At the end of the day, that one wasn’t too much, I knew I got hit and I knew the cage was going to have my back sooner or later,” he continued. “With Andre Fili, I remember getting hit one time, he cracked me with something, I don’t even know what he hit me with. I was looking at the scoreboard, it was in Baltimore and I was looking at the time and I was thinking, ‘What the hell am I doing right now?’ I was looking at the time, why am I looking at the time? I should be looking at this guy. That was probably one of the [worst] times ever.”
Before capturing UFC gold in June 2017, Holloway ran through 10 straight opponents, securing his second of those victories over Fili by third round guillotine. The submission is only one of two Holloway has earned in his 31-fight career (24-7). Holloway looks to get back on a winning streak by taking out “The Korean Zombie” Chan Sung Jung in UFC Singapore’s main event this weekend (Sat., Aug. 26, 2023).
Remember that MMAmania.com will deliver LIVE round-by-round, blow-by-blow coverage of the entire UFC Singapore fight card right here, starting with the ESPN/ESPN+ “Prelims” matches, which are scheduled to begin at 5 a.m. ET, then the remaining main card balance (also on ESPN+) at 8 a.m. ET.
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