POLITE PUGILISTS
Featherweights show respect ahead of UFC 240
There aren’t many people Max Holloway respects more than Frankie Edgar, so he says it will be a real honour to punch him in the face on Saturday.
The feeling is mutual. Among all the people Edgar would like to knock unconscious, he considers Holloway one of the nicest.
“I respect Max tremendously,” said Edgar, the 37-year-old former UFC lightweight champion. “He seems like a cool guy every time we have interactions. I’d probably hang out with Max, quite honestly.”
Make no mistake, both of these relentless hunters will be out for blood in UFC 240’s main event Saturday at Rogers Place, but in a sport where fighters often try to increase their own visibility by trash talking their opponents, the lead-up to this featherweight title fight has been drama free.
They’re saving that part for the cage.
For as vicious as this fight is expected to get between two warriors who rarely take a backward step, Holloway and Edgar are spending zero time trying to gain a psychological edge going in.
“(Edgar) is a legend,” said Holloway. “He’s been in the game for so long, but tell me one bad story you’ve ever heard about the guy. Zero.
“He’s just like me. He’s got kids, he’s a great father, a great role model outside and inside the sport. He is definitely a future Hall of Famer. But before that he has to see me on Saturday night.”
Some fighters like to manufacture a healthy dislike for the person they are about to challenge. Conor Mcgregor and the now retired Ronda Rousey, for example. It helps motivate their training sessions, fuels their fire in the cage and often helps to bump up the pay-per-view numbers. But neither one of these guys has ever cared much for the word game.
“Some people need it, and I’m not knocking them,” said Holloway. “But, for me personally, I’m more of a guy who likes to keep his mind clear. Like Bruce Lee once said, ‘Be like water, my friend.’
“I have no anger at all when I fight. A man who fights with anger is blind. You get away from stuff when you get angry. In camp when things aren’t working and you get frustrated, those are some of the best days because you learn that getting angry doesn’t help that much.”
But don’t mistake sportsmanship for being soft. Believe them when they tell you they have absolutely no problem trying to bust up someone they admire.
“It doesn’t matter to me,” said Edgar. “I fight my best friends in the gym every day. That’s all it is. This is just a job; it’s business. It’s nothing personal for me.”
And the business is about winning the featherweight title against one of the best who’s ever ruled the division. Edgar knows he is an underdog against someone who hasn’t lost at 145 pounds in 13 fights, but that’s nothing new. And it’s not a position he’s concerned about.
“I don’t pay attention to it, but you can’t not see it, either,” he said of the betting line. “It’s a familiar role for me. I’ve been an underdog quite a bit. I’ve been the champion and been the underdog. It’s no big deal for me.
“I expect myself to win. I expect myself to put on a great performance, but knowing that no one else does kind of does take a little pressure off.”
This is the third time they’ve tried to make this fight, with the previous two being scrapped by injuries. The wait helped build anticipation while giving each fighter plenty of time to study the other, but Holloway says good luck if you’re trying to get a bead on a moving target.
“Every time you see me go out there I show something new.
This will be no different,” Holloway said. “You guys are going to be scratching your head saying what did we just watch.”
What people expect to be watching are two guys known for firepower and heart leaving everything they have in the cage. Holloway owns the third best significant striking rate (6.93 per minute) of all time, while Edgar is one of the more prolific ground-and-pound strikers in the company.
“He’s going to go forward and I’m going to go forward,” said Edgar. “It’s about who can push who back.”
And, who knows, maybe they can hang out afterwards.
“He’s a really nice man, people say I’m a really nice man, but this is a fight between two guys who don’t quit,” said Holloway. “This is going to be fun, it’s going to be crazy. We’ll see what happens.”