Holloway Warns Doubters Ahead Of UFC Kansas City: ‘Y’all Must’ve Forgot’

Max Holloway is once again out to prove he’s still one of the best featherweight fighters on the planet when he meets red-hot contender Arnold Allen tomorrow night (Sat., April 15, 2023) at UFC Kansas City live on ESPN and ESPN+ from inside T-Mobile Center in Kansas City, Missouri.

Holloway, who turned 31 this past December, is undoubtedly one of the best mixed martial artists in the world today. His UFC track record speaks for itself. But after losing three decisions to current UFC featherweight champion Alexander Volkanovski over the past three years “Blessed” finds himself under a little bit of pressure entering this weekend in Kansas City.

The 11-year UFC veteran is eager to prove he’s still in his prime and capable of making another run at 145-pound gold.

“[I need to] make a statement,” said Holloway during UFC Kansas City’s media day. “That’s in my mind. Just remind people. I guess I got a little Roy Jones in me. Y’all must’ve forgot.

“I’m hearing everybody talking, hearing the critics, hearing the media, hearing all the social media people talking. I just can’t wait to go out there and show out.”

Despite losing to the current champion three times Holloway knows he can still return to featherweight greatness, drawing inspiration from Israel Adesanya. The UFC middleweight champion, who lost his heralded 185-pound belt to Alex Pereira late last year, defeated “Poatan” in a rematch last weekend at UFC 287 to reclaim his title.

“I’m still here,” Holloway said. “I’m right here, right in front of him. People keep giving me a hard time ‘how are we going to do the fourth [fight]?’ and blah, blah, blah, this and that. Watching [Israel Adesanya] last week it was pretty inspiring.

“This is MMA. At the end of the day, anything can happen. I go out there and put a statement out there, who’s to say what happens.”

Holloway, who has been around this sport for a very long time, doesn’t blame the outlook that enthusiasts and fans have on his current role in the UFC’s featherweight division. However, “Blessed” is hoping to change some minds this weekend in Kansas City with a memorable performance against Allen.

“I explain to everyone, MMA is a rough sport,” Holloway said. “We’re not basketball. We’re not baseball. We’re not football. Basketball, I can go shoot from the line, [go] 0-12, two days later, three days later, you’ve got a game and you can go off for 32 points. We’re in a sport where we fight, we are lucky to fight twice a year. There’s months in between. Some people are lucky to enough to fight maybe two weeks [apart] or whatever but that’s a dime a dozen.

“We’re in a sport where it takes time sometimes. It takes time and you’re only as good as you’re last fight. That’s what it is. I can’t wait to go out there and make this my next fight a great one.”

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MMAmania.com will deliver LIVE round-by-round, blow-by-blow coverage of the entire UFC Kansas City fight card RIGHT HERE, starting with the ESPN/ESPN+ preliminary card bouts at 5:30 p.m. ET, followed by the ESPN/ESPN+ main card start time at 8:30 p.m. ET.

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