Michael Bisping thinks Justin Gaethje underestimated Max Holloway – and it cost him.
Gaethje (25-5 MMA, 8-5 UFC) was knocked out by Holloway (26-7 MMA, 22-7 UFC) in the last second of their BMF title fight Saturday at UFC 300. He was down three rounds to one on two of the three judges’ scorecards before getting stopped in Round 5.
Bisping thinks Gaethje was riding too much of a high after knocking out Dustin Poirier to claim the BMF title at UFC 291 and didn’t take Holloway as seriously as he should have.
“I think he was a victim of his own success,” Bisping said on the TNT Sports post-fight show. “Knocking out Dustin Poirier the way that he did and everybody riding the coattails and being a fan for obvious reasons, he’s a very exciting fighter and very accomplished. He thought he was going to go right through Max Holloway. He really did, and he was looking for the knockout constantly. You can’t do that. When you’re looking for the knockout, you telegraph the shot.
“He was swinging with everything he had. He wasn’t setting it up and other than throwing hooks, he was just throwing leg kicks. Step aside, left hook Larry, leg kick Larry, that’s what we’re going to call Justin Gaethje from now and listen, you know, he learned a very, very valuable lesson because he didn’t have to take this fight. He was the next contender for Islam Makhachev. He was the rightful contender for the lightweight title. That just went up in flames.”
Gaethje was not credited for knocking down Holloway in Round 4, which remarkably would have made him the first fighter ever to do so.
For more on the card, visit MMA Junkie’s event hub for UFC 300.
