Holloway: Last 155 Fight Wasn’t Handled ‘The Proper Way’

Max Holloway is gearing up for another massive fight in his illustrious career.

Mixed martial arts (MMA) is well on the road to UFC 300. The historic super show is set to feature 12 current or former UFC champions, including former Featherweight titleholder, Holloway, who returns to the Lightweight ranks next month (April 13, 2024).

Holloway, 32, is set to battle for the Baddest Motherf—ker (BMF) championship against its owner, Justin Gaethje. The highly-anticipated clash will be Holloway’s first bout at 155 pounds since he rematched Dustin Poirier for interim gold at UFC 236 a full five years ago (April 13, 2019) come fight night. Unfortunately for Holloway, he failed to get the job done as Poirier defeated him via a hard-fought unanimous decision. This time around, “Blessed” believes he’s better prepared himself for the task at hand.

“There’s no real challenge of putting on weight,” Holloway said on his YouTube channel. “It is putting on proper weight is the challenge. I mean, it can be difficult, but I feel like we’ve done a great job at it. I’m eating good. Strength and conditioning is a big part of it. We’re lifting good. We’re making the right moves that need to be made.

“Anybody can get big,” he continued. “I got big for my last ‘55 fight. Not really the proper way, so this way we get to run it back, put in the right way, putting on healthy weight and I think it’s showing. Can’t wait for everybody to see come April 13.”

Bouncing between divisions gives Holloway the potential luxury of numerous big options going forward. A win over Gaethje could launch him to an undisputed title clash with Lightweight kingpin, Islam Makhachev, for example. A loss, however, theoretically shouldn’t affect his chances of vying for Featherweight gold against the new champion, Ilia Topuria.

In his longtime 145-pound division, Holloway’s been nearly unstoppable since 2013 with losses only to the former champion, Alexander Volkanovski. The division change has been an enjoyable one for Holloway in the lead up, to say the least.

“Everybody keeps talking about the ‘55, asking me how I feel,” Holloway said. “Obviously, with ‘55, I get to eat. I get to eat, eat, and eat some more. So, I’m lovin’ it. I can feel eating and recovering going way better in this camp just because I don’t have to be too much on a diet and lose a certain amount of pounds. We’re still losing weight to get to ‘55 ‘cause we did gain weight, but being able to eat more — eat a lot more — is always awesome.”