NEWARK – One of the breakout stars of UFC on FOX 15 in New Jersey was a fighter from nearly 5,000 miles away.
Hawaii’s Max Holloway was able to submit the perennial top-10 fighter Cub Swanson on the main card in Newark on Saturday night. After dominating much of the action on the feet, “Blessed” Holloway finally sunk a guillotine choke at the 3:58 mark of the third and final round.
And afterwards, when given the platform to call his shots and declare what he’d like to do next, Holloway deferred.
“You know, I’m not a matchmaker, it’s not my job,” he said in the post-fight press conference. “We’ll see what [UFC president] Dana White, Sean Shelby and Joe Silva want to do with me. We’ll take it one step at a time, and that’s all you can do right now, and it’s been working out for us.”
The 23-year old from Waianae has now won six fights in a row since losing a unanimous decision to the featherweight title contender Conor McGregor at UFC Fight Night 26 in 2013. Five of those victories have come via finish — two submissions, and three TKO/KOs.
Holloway declared himself a striker during the post-fight press conference, saying you’ll never see him trying to take anybody down. While he didn’t have anybody specific in mind on who to face next — though he did say he wanted to avenge his losses to McGregor, Dennis Bermudez and Dustin Poirier — Holloway did have one request.
“All I got to say is that I got a good team, I had a great camp and we’re doing great things,” he said. “Dana White, come to Hawaii. Bring one down to Hawaii. Let’s get one. We’ve got like seven UFC fighters, I want to fight on one back home.”