Holloway totally focused on Kattar for themoment
Ex- UFC lightweight champion gets a chance to restore his status as GOAT
Max Holloway has worked hard to forge a reputation as one of the best featherweight fighters of all time— only to see an image crafted with blood, sweat and tears in the MMA Octagon take a hit following three losses from four fights over the last couple of years.
Having beaten some of the best- ever fighters in the 145- pound division including Jose Aldo ( twice), Frankie Edgar, Cub Swanson and Brian Ortega, Holloway, relinquished his belt to Dustin Poirier in 2019 before suffering back- toback, although controversial, defeats against Alexander Volkanovski.
But now, as the UFC returns to Fight Island in Abu Dhabi this weekend for the first of a month- watering triple header, he has the chance to restore his status as a GOAT by beating rising featherweight sensation Calvin Kattar.
“I’m super- excited to be backat Fight Island fighting Calvin Kattar and in front of an audience again,” the No. 1 ranked contender in the featherweight division told the Gulf News. “It’s very exciting. I just can’t wait to go out there and do my thing after the loss to Volkanovski. I deserved the last fight but it was out of my hands. So this time I can’t wait to go out there and have some fun and get the job done.
“He’s had to work a lot to get to this point,” added Holloway, who turned 29 last month. “He deserves this fight and I can’t wait to show everybody what I can do.
Holloway, who is the international betting favourite to stop the Kattar juggernaut, will be hoping that a strong performance will put him back into title contention and a possible third fight against Volanovski, although he did not give away too much on the trilogy.
But for the moment he is totally focused on the No 6 ranked Kattar. “I’ve got five titles in all and nobody is going to take that away from me,” he said.