Max Holloway has weighed in on who he would love to face between lightweight champion Justin Gaethje and P4P kind and UFC welterweight titleholder Islam Makhachev, if he wins his upcoming fight.
Holloway is going to make his 170-pound debut next weekend at UFC 329 when he runs it back with Conor McGregor. The former featherweight and BMF titleholder wishes to become a two-division champion before he retires.
The Hawaiian warrior made a permanent move up to the lightweight division after being knocked out by Ilia Topuria in 2024. Blessed” then successfully defended the BMF belt against Dustin Poirier with a dominant display. Still, his reign came to an end in his next fight against Charles Oliveira earlier this year.
Now, Holloway is moving up to welterweight to fight “The Notorious” on July 11, as mentioned above.
Max Holloway on who he would love to face next if he wins at UFC 329
During a recent interview with MMA Junkie’s Mike Bohn, when “Blessed” was asked to weigh in on who he would like to lock horns with next, if he stops Conor McGregor at UFC 329, he said:
“If I can go out there, get an exciting win as we talked earlier, man, people are talking about the winner of this fight, maybe fighting for the 155 [pound] title, maybe even fighting for the 170 [pound] title after. So, all I got to do is go out there, get my hand raised, and not only my hand raised, get my hand raised in exciting fashion, and we see what it’s going to the ball is going to be UFC court, and whatever way they go, I’ll be ready.”
Holloway personally likes the idea of moving back down to 155-pounds to rematch Justin Gaethje:
“I would love to. I would love, and both of the fights [Makhachev and Gaethje] is fun, you know, but why not go back down to 155 and then do something amazing and ask to maybe come back up. We’ll see what happens, you know. I would love to fight both of them…That’s a tough one, man. I don’t know. I don’t know what I would choose. I we got to wait, you know. First things first is Conor McGregor. But you put me in a tough situation, bro, cuz both fighting being able to uh have an Islam fight, bro. And the way Islam’s career went, that’d be pretty sick, you know, to share the octagon with that guy.”
Max Holloway’s former foe Justin Gaethje, whom “Blessed” knocked out with just one second left on the clock at UFC 300, most recently won the lightweight title at UFC Freedom 250. After winning the belt, Gaethje said that beating “El Matador” helped him get over his brutal knockout loss to Holloway.
Given the history between Holloway and Gaethje, if the former beats “The Notorious” in the upcoming rematch, he could become the next lightweight title challenger. However, at the moment, Max Holloway’s full attention is on the Irishman. After the fight, he plans to evaluate his options and decide who to face next. The 34-year-old added during the same sitdown:
“At the end of the day, we’d have to wait till after the fight, man. You got to ask me that question. You know, if everything goes good come July 11, you can ask me a question. Maybe I have an answer.”
Check out Max Holloway’s comments below (11:13):
