LAS VEGAS – Like many, Dana White was amped up by what he witnessed Saturday night at UFC 300.
UFC 300 had some awesome finishes, but there was one moment in particular that stole the show: Max Holloway’s brutal knockout of Justin Gaethje.
Holloway (26-7 MMA, 22-7 UFC), a former featherweight champion, moved up to 155 pounds to fight Gaethje (25-5 MMA, 8-5 UFC) for his BMF (Baddest Motherf*cker) title on the main card. The Hawaiian dominated the fight, and with 10 seconds left, he brawled with Gaethje and scored the knockout with one one punch and one second remaining. It was a crazy scene.
“How many times have you seen a fight where a guy is winning, they click the 10-second thing, the guy puts his hands up, and they run around and move around?” White said at the UFC 300 post-fight press conference. “He’s got the fight won, and he’s in there with one of the most dangerous guys in the f*cking business, and he says, ‘Let’s do this.’ And they f*cking oblige and they go in. One second left and then a knockout like that. That’s like movie sh*t.”
WHAT A F*CKING SCENE. UNREAL ENDING. #UFC300 pic.twitter.com/2Ys3204JgI
— Danny Segura (@dannyseguratv) April 14, 2024
White thinks the fight and the final sequence embodied the spirit of the BMF title. Although the belt has received some criticism, White it didn’t end up as a one-off after the original matchup between Jorge Masvidal and Nate Diaz in November 2019.
“When we were sitting in that room, and we created the BMF, tonight totally embodied what that belt was built for,” White said. “There should be a picture in the f*king dictionary when you look up BMF. It was incredible. I don’t know if you guys noticed this, but that fight sucked the life out of everybody tonight. The next two fights, everybody was sitting there, like there was this adrenaline dump.
“People always ask me what I do, I sell holy sh*t moments for a living. That was the ultimate holy sh*t moment of all time.”
As far as what’s next for Holloway, the 32-year-old called out both the UFC lightweight and featherweight champions – Islam Makhachev and Ilia Topuria. White is unsure, but whatever it is, it will be big.
“I don’t know. We’ll put something good together for him,” White said. “I agree with you. He was a star coming in here, but he took himself to an entirely different level after tonight. Tonight was a career-defining moment.”
For more on the card, visit MMA Junkie’s event hub for UFC 300.