Max Holloway is 25 years old.
Before we begin to understand what he accomplished in the main event of UFC 206 in Toronto, let that sink in.
For a man nicknamed “Blessed,” it seemed Holloway would need a miracle to make a mark in the UFC when he showed up inside the Octagon in 2012. Four years later, there's no question Holloway’s third-round stoppage of Anthony Pettis to capture an interim featherweight belt ranks as the biggest achievement during his UFC tenure. The thing is, snagging a title was not the most important act the once-scrawny prospect managed to pull off Saturday night.
Holloway—now a long, lean, tested competitor and the only featherweight to take Conor McGregor the distance—inspired hope.
When the UFC announced McGregor would no longer hold the 145-pound title and reinstated the man he defeated, Jose Aldo, as champion, the whole division felt phony. Worse yet, when the promotion announced Holloway’s fight with Pettis would cap UFC 206 as yet another interim title bout, the division itself seemed in danger of turning into a farce. A belt inside a belt inside a belt, this was a bad dream. An Interimception.
Consider that Aldo had been designated as interim champion while McGregor galavanted at 170 and 155. So how could Aldo be taken seriously as the undisputed “champion” after being knocked out in 13 seconds by McGregor? Dominating Frankie Edgar—again—was no small task at UFC 200, but that didn’t make it any easier to forget what McGregor did to the dangerous Brazilian.
In a world that viewed Aldo, arguably the greatest 145-pound fighter of all time, as an also-ran—an unfair view, but sometimes the consensus can be unfair—how could Holloway or Pettis deserve to hold a UFC belt alongside a champion who wasn’t really seen as one himself?
All of this was unhealthy for a weight class that 12 months ago was arguably the UFC’s most enthralling.
Then Holloway pulled off his 10th straight win, and here we are again encouraged that a talented band of fighters won't be relegated to wandering aimlessly amidst the rubble created by McGregor and the UFC.
Thank you #teamblessedmma we did it! #kuikahihawaii #ufchawaii pic.twitter.com/OkdfLerXkx
— Max Holloway (@BlessedMMA) December 11, 2016
A chance to build, to flourish, and Holloway is the proof.
“It’s been a hell of a ride and it's just getting started,” Holloway said at the post-fight press conference.
Saturday night represented the Hawaiian's 16th appearance as a 145-pound UFC fighter. This is inspiring in its own right, of course. The maturation of an athlete. The culmination of hard work and effort and determination. All the things one would hope to see from someone striving to be the best were on display while he handled Pettis with relative ease.
Aided by the fact that on his first punch of the fight Pettis broke his right hand, Holloway took control from the outset. The pair played a game of distance and timing in the opening frame. Holloway found an effective range as the period closed, and Pettis returned to his stool with the area around his right eye bloodied and swollen.
Holloway, a high-output fighter, was judicious against Pettis. He scored with jabs and counter rights, including one that put Pettis on the canvas even though it didn't really sting him.
After two rounds, all three judges (Doug Crosby, Derek Cleary and Eric Colon) scored it for Holloway, 20-18.
Action picked up in the third. Pettis attempted to create offense with his legs, which he famously used to deliver the “Showtime” kick against Benson Henderson while winning the WEC lightweight championship on Dec. 16, 2010. Six years later, the spectacular Pettis, the fighter who was featured on Wheaties boxes in supermarkets across America, had failed to make weight for the match with Holloway.
Stepping on the scale at 148 pounds, it was obvious Pettis is no featherweight, which he admitted afterward. As a result, only Holloway was eligible to win the interim title. That meant the best Pettis could do was muck things up with a win. Holloway had to handle business, or the stature of the featherweights would have fallen further than anyone could have imagined.
As soon as a moment presented itself, Holloway made sure to close the show. Holloway (17-3) executed a beautiful trip takedown before disengaging from side-control to stand in front of Pettis again. He followed with a spinning back-kick and punches to Pettis’ body and head. A right hand to the jaw stunned Pettis (19-6) along the fence, and Holloway swung looping shots that prompted referee Yves Lavigne to intervene.
“I finished a guy that never got finished,” Holloway said. “He opened the door I just had to push him through.”
Following in the footsteps of Hawaiian legend BJ Penn, Holloway, fighting out of Waianae, Hawaii, wrapped himself in the flag of his home state as he celebrated in the Octagon.
Holloway said, while he welcomed a rematch with McGregor, he wasn't begging for it and would be content defending his belt—his “golden ticket”—for as long as he needed. He also said his future could dictate a trip to the lightweight division as he continues to grow into his frame.
“This is the ‘Blessed’ show now,” Holloway said. “I’m taking over.”
Holloway first called for a unification fight against Aldo in Brooklyn on February 11, then said he hoped he wouldn't have to fight so soon while lobbying the UFC to promote him at the 50,000-seat Aloha Stadium in Honolulu.
“I asked you guys earlier in the week about Jose Waldo,” Holloway bellowed to Joe Rogan in the cage after UFC President Dana White wrapped the interim title around his waist. “Where is Jose Waldo?”
As disappointed as Aldo was that a rematch with Irish icon McGregor seems dead at 145, that’s how the state of the featherweights felt heading into UFC 206. Now there is a sense that maybe Aldo, with a challenger of Holloway's caliber waiting in the wings, can find the inspiration to be his best and return to the UFC.
On the strength of his victory, Holloway did more than make good on his potential. He provided MMA fans a reason to be optimistic about the future of the featherweight division in a post-McGregor world.
