Fresh off his finish of Anthony Pettis, interim UFC featherweight champion Max Holloway finds himself being regarded as one of the Top-10 pound-for-pound fighters in the promotion.
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Fresh off his finish of Anthony Pettis, interim UFC featherweight champion Max Holloway finds himself being regarded as one of the Top-10 pound-for-pound fighters in the promotion.
Holloway, who scored his 10th consecutive win with a third round finish at UFC 206, debuted in the pound-for-pound rankings at No. 10. He is likely to face Jose Aldo to unify the belts in early 2017.
After stopping Tim Kennedy, former Ultimate Fighter winner Kelvin Gastelum broke into the middleweight rankings at No. 10. Gastelum faces Vitor Belfort in 2017 at 185 pounds despite stating he plans to try welterweight again.
Derrick Lewis and Francis Ngannou, who both won at UFC Fight Night 102, moved up to ninth and 11th at heavyweight. Ngannou also has his next fight booked, meeting Andrei Arlovski in January.
At light heavyweight, Misha Cirkunov moved up to eighth following his win over Nikita Krylov, who fell to 10th.
Before we move ahead to the rest of December, check out the “Fight Motion” highlights from the recent UFC 206 event.
Included in the slow-motion replay are moments caught on f…
Before we move ahead to the rest of December, check out the “Fight Motion” highlights from the recent UFC 206 event.
Included in the slow-motion replay are moments caught on film that show the precise strike that ended certain fights.
Featured are the Max Holloway-Anthony Pettis main event and the “Fight of the Year” contender bout between Dooho Choi and Cub Swanson.
Take a slow motion trip through some of the highlights of UFC 206: Holloway vs Pettis from Saturday, December 10 in Toronto, Canada including the instant classic and fight-of-year contender Cub Swanson vs Dooho Choi.
With every decision comes a consequence and for those fighters who took part in battle this past at UFC 206, it’s their time to faces those consequences in the form of medical suspensions. UFC 206 took place on Saturday, December 10, 2016 at the Air Canada Centre in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. The prelims aired on
With every decision comes a consequence and for those fighters who took part in battle this past at UFC 206, it’s their time to faces those consequences in the form of medical suspensions.
UFC 206 took place on Saturday, December 10, 2016 at the Air Canada Centre in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. The prelims aired on UFC Fight Pass at 6:30 p.m. ET and FOX Sports 1 at 8 p.m. ET. The main card aired on PPV at 10 p.m. ET
Some of the more notable suspensions include Max Holloway being suspended for 14 days while Anthony Pettis received a two-month sit. Also, Matt Brown, Cub Swanson, Dooho Choi, and Tim Kennedy have also received 60 days suspensions. Here are the entire medical suspensions:
Max Holloway: suspended 14 days def. Anthony Pettis: 60 days
Donald Cerrone:14 days def. Matt Brown: 60 days
Cub Swanson: 60 days def. Dooho Choi: 60 days
Kelvin Gastelum: 14 days def. Tim Kennedy: 60 days
Emil Meek: 30 days def. Jordan Mein: 14 days
Misha Cirkunov: 30 days def. Nikita Krylov: 14 days
Olivier Aubin-Mercier: 30 days def. Drew Dober: 30 days
Viviane Pereira: 30 days def. Valerie Letourneau: 30 days
Matthew Lopez: 14 days def. Mitch Gagnon: 14 days
Landon Vannata: 14 days def. John Makdessi: 60 days
Rustam Khabilov: 14 days def. Jason Saggo: 14 days
So after all the chaos that threatened to turn UFC 206 in to one of the more unfortunate cards of the year, things ended up working out pretty well. The main event was exciting, the two bouts before it packed with action and all in all the event ended up being truly memorable. But despite that there was a shadow looming over this event. It was far from perfect in terms of “professionalism” as a number of fighters missed weight. Though it’s something to be scrutinized, you have to wonder how this weight cutting issue is going to be fixed.
So after all the chaos that threatened to turn UFC 206 in to one of the more unfortunate cards of the year, things ended up working out pretty well. The main event was exciting, the two bouts before it packed with action and all in all the event ended up being truly memorable. But despite that there was a shadow looming over this event. It was far from perfect in terms of “professionalism” as a number of fighters missed weight. Though it’s something to be scrutinized, you have to wonder how this weight cutting issue is going to be fixed.
While it may have been an exciting match up while it lasted, Max Holloway’s bout with Anthoiny Pettis was somewhat frustrating simply for the fact that the former lightweight champion missed weight and therefore lowered the stakes of the match up by half. But thought we can point the finger at Pettis, as well as Rustam Khabilov and Valerie Letourneau, the truth of the matter is that the sport forced their hands.
The idea that individuals don’t fight at their walk around weight is somewhat ludicrous. While boxing may have too many weight classes it does mitigate things to an extent. You get to see match ups with individuals who are far closer to their natural weight because of that fact. A guy like Pettis who probably walks around at about 165-170 lbs shouldn’t have to be forced to cut weight to 145 lbs just to avoid the monsters in the lightweight division who sometimes cut from upwards of 185 lbs.
It’s a crazy dance that their forced to participate in, but it’s a path they’ve chosen. Professionalism does matter most no matter what endeavor you choose, but it’s hard to criticize a person who is willing to throw their bones at another human being for the entertainment of others. Here’s hoping all the fighters who missed weight either find the best way to make cut or the right division to accommodate their frames.
What was your thoughts on the weight blunders at UFC 206?
Jonathan Salmon is a writer, martial arts instructor, and geek culture enthusiast. Check out his Twitter and Facebook to keep up with his antics.
The following is a story from five years ago featuring one half of tonight’s UFC Vegas 42 main event, Max Holloway, prior to “Blessed” claiming the featherweight crown. At the time, he had his sights set on the division’s king a…
[MMA NEWS ARCHIVES]
The following is a story from five years ago featuring one half of tonight’s UFC Vegas 42 main event, Max Holloway, prior to “Blessed” claiming the featherweight crown. At the time, he had his sights set on the division’s king at the time: Jose Aldo. The following story is presented in its original, unaltered form, courtesy of the MMA News Archives.
[ORIGINALLY PUBLISHED DECEMBER 13, 2016, 9:19 AM]
Interim UFC featherweight champion Max Holloway wants to unify the belts with Jose Aldo, he just wants to make sure the reigning featherweight titleholder shows up for the scheduled date.
That’s why Holloway is a little reluctant to agree to a February date because he doesn’t believe “Jose Waldo” will make it.
“We got Jose Waldo over here saying Feb. 11. I don’t know,” Holloway said on The MMA Hour (thanks to MMAFighting.com for the quotes). “He wants to retire. He wants to be a soccer player. Now he’s a (expletive) matchmaker. Like I said before, the UFC needs to send his ass to the Cleveland Clinic and check his brain out. They’ve been sending me a bunch of times and my brain seems fine. I ain’t got no problems talking with you guys and doing all this (expletive).
“I said it before, I don’t want to give up my Christmas, I don’t want to give up my son’s birthday on Jan. 4, all for Feb. 11 and the guy doesn’t show up. The hashtag ‘where’s Jose Waldo?’ has been working because he’s popping off here and there, but we’ve got to keep on turning the page and keep finding him, so we’ll see what happens.”
Holloway scored his 10th consecutive victory this past weekend at UFC 206 when he finished Anthony Pettis in the third round. Aldo was given the belt after winning the interim title in July vs. Frankie Edgar when Conor McGregor won the lightweight title.
After McGregor decided to fight Eddie Alvarez instead of Aldo, the Brazilian went public and stated he planned to leave MMA.
Max Holloway has finally achieved his life-long dream of capturing UFC gold, as the 25-year-old Hawaiian defeated former lightweight champ Anthony ‘Showtime’ Pettis in the main event of UFC 206 this past Saturday (December 10, 2016), to become the interim 145-pound champion and extend his win streak to 10 fights. The win most likely sets
Max Holloway has finally achieved his life-long dream of capturing UFC gold, as the 25-year-old Hawaiian defeated former lightweight champ Anthony ‘Showtime’ Pettis in the main event of UFC 206 this past Saturday (December 10, 2016), to become the interim 145-pound champion and extend his win streak to 10 fights.
The win most likely sets up Holloway with a unification bout with featherweight champion Jose Aldo who was recently promoted undisputed champion, after defeating Frankie Edgar for the interim title at UFC 200 this past July, after Conor McGregor was stripped of his 145-pound strap.
Holloway recently joined MMA Fighting’s Ariel Helwani on The MMA Hour today (Monday, December 12, 2016) to discuss his win over Pettis, and broke down his third-round finish over ‘Showtime’ stating that it all started with a spinning back kick:
“It all started with the spinning back kick — nobody chose the spinning back kick in all the highlights,” Holloway said. “That’s where I started. I landed it and he stepped into me, he stepped into the spinning back kick, and I was like holy sh*t how the hell did he not fall down from that? And then I round house’d him and I saw him moving away, then when I round house’d him the second time I said ‘Oh he’s definitely hurt.’
“He put his head down so I thought he was gonna shoot, if you see before I start the flurry I go for a guillotine. Then I think ‘Oh wait he’s not even shooting he’s just covering up.’ So I told myself ‘It’s go time, it’s now or never Max. Get this guy out of here, he opened the door so it’s time to kick him out through it. We got the job done and it is what it is man. I’m blessed.”
Immediately after the bout with Pettis, it seemed as though people began booking ‘Blessed’s’ next Octagon appearance before he even walked out of the Air Canada Centre cage, as UFC 208 from Brooklyn began getting tossed around as a possible landing spot for an Aldo vs. Holloway title bout.
Before Holloway steps back into the Octagon, however, he would like to first sit down with UFC President Dana White and the new owners from WME-IMG prior to making anymore decisions:
“Man I don’t know, like I said to everyone man — I didn’t care, I was on cloud nine,” he said. “I wanted to fight but at the end of the day I didn’t meet the new owners yet. I want to have brunch with Dana and the new owners, Sean Shelby, I think so — A wise man once told me ‘This is big game hunting’ and I think I just brang in a lion on Saturday night.
“It’s time to cash in man, we’ll see what happens. I want to go talk to them first and talk business. This is business and this is fighting so, we got something up our sleeves so we’ll see what happens.”
Mandatory Credit: Tom Szczerbowski for USA TODAY Sports
Aldo himself has already stated that the bout is set for February 11of next year, but Holloway says that’s news to him as he has yet to be told of an official fight date and is reluctant to commit to the date as he fears ‘Scarface’ will pull out:
“I don’t know, we got Jose Waldo over here saying February 11th, he wants to retire, he wants to be a soccer player, now he’s a fu*cking match-maker. Like I said before, UFC needs to send his ass to the Cleveland Clinic and check his brain out. They’ve been sending me out a bunch of times and it seems my brain is fine, I’ve got no problem talking with you guys and doing all this sh*t.
“So yeah we’ll see what happens but I’ve said it before that I don’t want to give up my Christmas, I don’t want to give up my son’s birthday on January 4th for February 11th and the guy don’t show up. The hashtag #wheresjosewaldo has been working because he’s popping up here and there, but we gotta keep turning the page and keep finding him. We’ll see what happens.”
Holloway has racked up a legendary win streak inside the Octagon at 145 pounds, and has the potential to go down as one of the greats in the sport of mixed martial arts (MMA) while astonishingly enough only sitting at the age of 25. If Holloway is able to get past Aldo in their potential fight at UFC 208, the sky will be the limit for the talented young Hawaiian.
But as usual, there are some roadblocks to this featherweight barnburner being made.
