Michael Bisping thinks there are plenty of options left for Max Holloway. All of them just happened to be in the lightweight division.
After suffering the first knockout loss of his career against reigning featherweight world champion Ilia Topuria, Holloway’s future is uncertain.
Fortunately, ‘Blessed’ has plenty of time to figure out what’s next as he’s still only 32 years old, but another run with the 145-pound title is probably out of the question at this point.
“The time is done, that ship has sailed, move on,” Bisping said of Holloway’s featherweight title aspirations on his Believe You Me podcast. “You’re getting older, the weight cut’s tougher. You’ve had a couple of losses, you almost became the champion again, you looked incredible against Justin Gaethje, you took his shots, you knocked him out cold” (h/t MMA Knockout on SI).
Bisping sees rematches aplenty for max holloway at lightweight
On the other hand, Bisping does believe there are some big-money fights for ‘Blessed’ at 155.
“There’s a lot of fun fights for him at 155 pounds,” Bisping continued. There’s Dan Hooker, there’s Poirier, there’s Gaethje, Charles Oliviera, which by the way, them three would all be rematches, which is wild.
Already holding victories over Charles Oliveira and Justin Gaethje and having gone toe-to-toe with Dustin Poirier for the interim lightweight title in 2019, there are a few high-profile rematches to be had in the lightweight division and one big win in the division would likely put ‘Blessed’ immediately into the title mix.
A pairing against No. 5 ranked contender Dan Hooker would also present a fresh and exciting matchup worthy of determining the division’s next man in line for a shot at Islam Makhachev.
Is a move to 155 the logical next step for the reigning BMF titleholder?
