Max Holloway likes the idea of adding the BMF title to his collection.
‘Blessed’ has run roughshod over the UFC’s featherweight top-ten for years, but his inability to win the big one against reigning 145-pound king Alexander Volkanovski has Max Holloway taking a long hard look at the trajectory of his combat sports career. Not many men are left inside the division for Holloway to contend with, but ‘Blessed’ hopes he can get a long-awaited matchup with fan favorite Chan Sung Jung, better known by fans as Korean Zombie.
“I called him out, he answered back pretty quick, so the ball is in the UFC’s court,” Holloway said Wednesday on The MMA Hour with Ariel Helwani. “The ball is there. I would love that. Like I said, I told everyone, from that time when WEC was coming up, I fought most of those guys. Ricardo Lamas, [Jose] Aldo, [Anthony] Pettis, Dustin Poirier. He’s one I never got yet. I never got to get him. He’s still here, still top 10 — I think he’s No. 7 or whatever — so it makes sense. One fight, I’m hearing he wants to retire, so why not go out on a bang?
“I have no idea [why it hasn’t been booked yet],” Holloway continued. “I never heard nothing. All I know is I called him out, he replied with a cute video message, so let’s figure it out” (h/t MMA Fighting).
Max Holloway Teases Potential Move to Lightweight After Scrap with Korean Zombie
While Max Holloway is chomping at the bit to cross Korean Zombie off his hit list, his future under the UFC banner still remains a mystery. Losing world title fights against Volkanovski on three separate occasions, fans are not exactly clamoring to see a fourth fight between the two. Instead, ‘Blessed’ could find himself moving up to the lightweight division where a bevy of intriguing matchups awaits. The division will also soon be home to the UFC’s official bragging rights belt, the BMF championship.
“For sure, there’s the other belts.” Holloway said. “… But it’s always better to go to a different division while you’re holding a belt. That’s just what it is. We’ll see what happens. We’ll see how July pans out, we’ll see how my next fight pans out, and we’ll see. Who knows? We saw that fun BMF belt, with Gaethje and Poirier. Me and Poirier fought two times [already] and people keep harassing me about Gaethje anyway.
“At the end of the day, that would be fun at ‘55. I know there are a lot of fun fights for me at ‘55, maybe [Charles] Oliveira two, and of course I never got to finish the thing with Khabib [Nurmagomedov] but Islam [Makhachev] is there so that would be a great thing. … We’ll see what happens. Like I said, we’ll see the lay of the land. Never say never. I know people shouting out that BMF belt. That BMF belt would look real nice in my collection.”
Max Holloway has once before competed in the lightweight division, challenging Dustin Poirier for the interim 155-pound crown at UFC 236. ‘Blessed’ came up short in their title tilt largely due to his lack of size and power at lightweight. That will undoubtedly be an issue to address before attempting to make the move on a more permanent basis.
Chan Sung Jung, otherwise known as ‘The Korean Zombie’, is reportedly the next man up to face Alexander Volkanovski on short notice after Max Holloway withdrew due to injury. This is according to MMA journalist Ariel Helwani, who reports that the two sides have agreed to the bout and are awaiting a formal offer. Volkanovski […]