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UFC featherweight champion Max Holloway isn’t closing his doors on a possible fight with Khabib Nurmagomedov, as well as a rematch with Conor Mcgregor.
Since his loss to Conor McGregor in 2013, Max Holloway went on a five-year undefeated run, winning the undisputed UFC featherweight title in the process. And while he did experience his first loss in a while when he jumped up to 155 pounds to face Dustin Poirier at UFC 236 last April, “Blessed” still sees himself contending against the best lightweights today.
Speaking to ESPN’s Brett Okamoto in a recent sit-down, Holloway is still expecting a fight against current lightweight champion Khabib Nurmagomedov down the line, as well as a rematch against McGregor.
What did Max Holloway really lose from his April defeat to Dustin Poirier? In his mind, not much. “Khabib is still there. The Irishman is still there.” pic.twitter.com/6VsRv8AdTv
— Brett Okamoto (@bokamotoESPN) July 10, 2019
“The Khabib fight is still there,” Holloway said (transcript via BJPenn.com). “I think the Khabib fight is still there. The fans still want the Khabib fight which is very interesting.
“The Irishman fight, if he ever figures it out, that fight is still there. There’s a lot of interesting things to do. 155 is not that far, it isn’t that far.”
Holloway is now slated to defend his 145-pound title against Frankie Edgar at UFC 240 after just three months since his last fight, and he doesn’t plan to stay inactive for too long.
“In April I told you guys, I was saying it over, go look at the old interviews, that I was going to come back to 145 no matter what happened,” he said. “We’re here now and I wanted to come back to 145 in the summer and that’s the plan. I ain’t got nothing but time, we only turned 28, people keep forgetting.
“I have been around for a long time; you guys saw me grow up in this game.”
UFC 240 takes place on July 27th in Edmonton, Alberta, Canada. It will be co-headlined by a women’s featherweight fight between Cris Cyborg and Felicia Spencer.