Max Holloway ready to clear up formerly murky waters of featherweight division at UFC 206

When Max Holloway heard Daniel Cormier was out of the UFC 206 main event next week in Toronto, he had a sneaking suspicion he probably was going to be elevated from his co-feature slot to headliner.

What he didn’t expect, though, is that his featherweight fight with Anthony Pettis suddenly would be for a UFC title. Holloway (16-3 MMA, 12-3) and Pettis (19-5 MMA, 6-4 UFC) on Saturday were announced as the new UFC 206 main event – with an interim featherweight title on the line.

The interim strap became available when the UFC decided to strip featherweight champ Conor McGregor of his belt and elevate interim champ Jose Aldo to his former pedestal as champion. The Holloway-Pettis winner will move on to a unification bout with Aldo. The UFC said McGregor would vacate one of his titles if he also won the lightweight belt at UFC 205 earlier this month, which he did. Two weeks after making history, he was a single-division champion again.

UFC 206 takes place Dec. 10 at Air Canada Centre in Toronto, and the main card airs on pay-per-view following prelims on FS1 and UFC Fight Pass.

“I’m just blessed to have the opportunity to be here,” Holloway told MMAjunkie today. “I always wanted to fight for a title, and I always wanted to be the main event of a pay-per-view. I can knock two off the list come Dec. 10, and I think the world is in for a treat.

“I thought I was going to get Pettis as the main event and move to five rounds. I didn’t think it was going to get elevated to a title shot. But the featherweight division was in murky waters, and now it’s super clear. I’ve been telling everybody this is God’s plan, not mine, and God’s plan is perfect. We’re here now, and it’s all about taking opportunities. This is an opportunity I need to take, and it’s the first step toward greatness.”

One could argue Hawaii’s Holloway already has achieved greatness – but the obvious goal for a fighter is to have a belt to prove it. Holloway hasn’t lost since a decision setback to McGregor in Boston in August 2013, the Irishman’s second fight in the promotion.

That loss gave “Blessed” Holloway a second straight defeat for the first time in his young career and put him at 3-3 in the UFC – hardly the stuff of greatness. But since then, he’s rattled off nine wins in a row. He has six stoppages in that mix and three fight-night bonus awards. And of late, his resume reads like a murderer’s row of featherweights with wins over Cub Swanson, Charles Oliveira, Jeremy Stephens and, most recently, former title challenger Ricardo Lamas at UFC 199 in June.

Remarkably, Holloway has done all of this prior to his 25th birthday. He’ll turn 25 on Sunday at the start of fight week for his first UFC title shot. But polishing his laurels is not something Holloway is prepared to do – not for a long time.

“I don’t have time to think about it. I don’t have time to look at my accomplishments,” Holloway said. “I’ll have all the time in the world when I’m retired. This window is small. I want to fight till I’m 35 and see how my body feels. If I retire at 35, I have a lot more time to think how things went. That’s my plan. Every fight, I tell myself to ‘Go in there and show them who the hell you are, Max. Go in there and do the damn thing.’ That’s my approach.

“In MMA, people get complacent and get left behind. I’m not trying to get left behind – I’m trying to be the leader of the pack all the time. I’m trying to outgrow the sport before the sport catches up with me. I’ll enjoy my work when I’m done. But right now, it’s hard work and on to the next.”

The next is Pettis, a former lightweight champion in the UFC and WEC who fell on hard times starting with a title loss to Rafael dos Anjos at UFC 185 in March 2015. After that, his road back to a shot at a UFC belt was delayed by a split-decision loss to Eddie Alvarez (who went on to beat dos Anjos for the belt before losing it to McGregor), then a loss to Edson Barboza.

With three straight setbacks at 155 pounds, Pettis made the call to drop to featherweight – a move he had pondered before and been close to when a fight was booked with Aldo, only to be scrapped with a Pettis injury.

Against Oliveira in August, Pettis picked up a third-round submission win in his featherweight debut. But the win didn’t come without struggle. Holloway said he understands why “Showtime” wasn’t perfect in his inaugural 145-pound bout, given it was a new weight and a new speed of the game. So he won’t judge Pettis off that fight – or his three losses at lightweight prior to that, either.

“I’m not going to judge him off his last fight,” he said. “It was his first time at the weight. I think this time it’s going to be a different Anthony Pettis, and I’m ready for the best Anthony Pettis in the world. We’ll see what Anthony Pettis shows up, because he’s getting one mother(expletive) in Max Holloway – I’m coming, and I’m focused and ready.”

There’s focused and ready, and then there’s the confidence Holloway has that he’s the best featherweight on the planet. In essence, he has two fights to prove it – first, against Pettis at UFC 206, and then in a title unifier with Aldo, considered the greatest 145-pounder in history.

“I match up with anyone in the world,” Holloway said. “Put me in there with anyone – I don’t care. I’m the best guy in the world, and I believe it. I believe in myself. If you don’t believe in yourself, then what are you doing this stuff for? I believe in my damn self. I know I’m here for a reason and I just can’t wait to prove it. This guy’s a former champion. He brings a lot to the table. But I’m trying to take everything that’s his. …

“If you don’t know who Max Holloway is, you’re about to find out.”

For more on UFC 206, check out the UFC Rumors section of the site.