Conor McGregor's departure means there's a gaping hole where the main attraction used to be in the featherweight division. At UFC 206, Max Holloway did his best to apply for the position.
The Hawaiian utilized his opportunity to fight for the interim featherweight belt against Anthony "Showtime" Pettis, and he earned a third-round TKO win over the former champion Saturday night in Toronto.
MMAjunkie tweeted out the official result:
#UFC206 results: Max Holloway def. Anthony Pettis via TKO (strikes) – Round 3, 4:50 - to win interim 145lbs title https://t.co/3MqWvrCr6w
— MMAjunkie (@MMAjunkie) December 11, 2016
Holloway got off to an inauspicious start. Pettis played the role of aggressor as he probed his opponent with body and leg kicks, while Holloway was quiet with his offense.
The end of the first round saw Holloway let the fists fly to some extent. Although Pettis landed good kicks in the early going, Holloway's finish to the frame was good enough for MMA Fighting to give him the round:
Holloway 10-9. Landed the cleaner, harder shots. But it was close. #ufc206
— MMAFighting.com (@MMAFighting) December 11, 2016
Patrick Wyman of Bleacher Report scored the round for Pettis but sensed Holloway was building momentum:
10-9 Pettis for the harder, cleaner shots, but Holloway was taking over at the end of the round. His counters are going to win this. #UFC206
— Patrick Wyman (@Patrick_Wyman) December 11, 2016
The second round would indeed see a more comfortable Holloway. He continued to allow Pettis to press the action but met each of the former champ's advances with a counterattack that scored. The UFC passed along one of the better counterpunches that sent Pettis to the mat:
.@BlessedMMA drops Pettis!!! #UFC206 https://t.co/NRnpN92mWn
— UFC (@ufc) December 11, 2016
Bloody Elbow's Connor Ruebusch noted the success Holloway had without leading the dance:
10-9 Holloway. Impressively, he's beating Pettis while mostly going backward.
— Connor Ruebusch (@BoxingBusch) December 11, 2016
The most noteworthy development of the second round was the apparent broken hand Pettis suffered, as Damon Martin of Fox Sports reported:
Anthony Pettis says he broke his hand. Not a good sign for the last 3 rounds#UFC206
— Damon Martin (@DamonMartin) December 11, 2016
The hand injury forced Pettis into a more grappling-heavy approach, but Holloway's takedown defense made that a difficult task. He continued to fight Pettis on the feet until landing a trip that put him in top position.
As if he knew he had a knockout punch waiting, Holloway allowed Pettis back to his feet. It was then, in the third round, that Holloway landed a straight right punch that put Showtime against the cage. Holloway delivered repeated uppercuts that forced the stoppage.
The marketing of this bout as an interim championship fight was ludicrous. With Jose Aldo recently being promoted to champion after the UFC stripped McGregor of the belt, the entire division is in a state of flux.
However, the interim belt does serve an important function for Holloway. It's a guaranteed opportunity that he'll be the next title contender and the chance to stake the kind of claim he'd like to make in the division.
"I want to make history. I want to break history. Conor McGregor set this bar, and bars are always meant to be broken. If you're not trying to shoot or break it, then why are you in the game, then? I'm not trying to be this guy just chugging along. I'm trying to be the leader of the pack," Holloway said, per MMAjunkie.
It'll be interesting to keep an eye on who will be favored if and when Aldo and Holloway meet. Aldo was the kingpin of this division for a long time before McGregor ended his title reign in seconds, but Aldo still looked like the champion in his return fight against Frankie Edgar.
No one has been on the tear that Holloway has been on, though. The 25-year-old rebounded from a decision loss to McGregor with a 10-fight win streak thanks to his technical striking and pressure game.
For Pettis, this might be the end of his title-contention days. The interim title was not available to him with a win because he missed weight by three pounds, per Brett Okamoto of ESPN.
Potential weight troubles aside, Pettis can't seem to find victories against top-level competition. The loss moves his record to 1-4 in his last five fights.
