Max Holloway admits he was 'feeling bad' while pummeling Akira Corassani

STOCKHOLM – As Max Holloway unloaded punch after punch on an obviously dazed Akira Corassani, the Hawaiian said there was one thought going through his mind: When is somebody going to stop this fight?

“I was like, ‘What is going on?'” Holloway said. “I was thinking, ‘Stop this fight, already.’ But the refs tell us don’t stop until they touch us.

“This is a rough sport, so you’ve got to keep going. I’m just happy I got the finish.”

Holloway (11-3 MMA, 7-3 UFC) and Corassani (12-5 MMA, 3-2 UFC) met on the main card of Saturday’s UFC Fight Night 53 event, which took place at Stockholm’s Ericsson Globe. It was actually Corassani who seemed to have success early, pulling the trigger a little quicker than Holloway and finding the target with big overhand shots.

But as Holloway turned up the heat, he scored with a few straight punches that buckled Corassani’s knees before finally finishing up with a barrage of strikes on the floor.

“He was a little faster than I thought he would be, and he caught me with some overhands, but nothing that really hurt me,” Holloway said. “It was frustrating. I was honoring his takedown too much. I thought that he was going to try to take me down early and fast and hold me there, but he wanted to stand and kept standing. The fight ended the way it ended.”

And that ending was certainly brutal. Referee Kristian Hacklou gave Corassani every opportunity to recover from the shellacking, but it was obvious well before he stepped in to stop it that the Swedish featherweight was done. Holloway said he regretted having to continue the blows but knows there’s only one way to ensure a victory isn’t taken away.

“The second time, I dropped him, and I punched him like three times,” Holloway said. “Normally it’s like three times and they don’t defend and it’s over, and they let me go like seven times. I was kind of feeling bad after, and I was tripping out because it was going longer than it had to. But it is what it is.

“They tell us don’t stop until they stop it because you never know. Akira could have got back up, and I could have finished it there, or we could have went to a three-round war. It is what it is at the end of the day.”

Holloway, who at just 22 already boasts 10 UFC appearances, is now 4-0 with four stoppage wins in 2014, marking the best run of his octagon career. A fifth UFC appearance could be tough to squeeze in before the end of calendar year, but Holloway isn’t ruling out anything.

“I’m going to sit down with my camp and see what happens, see if the UFC calls,” Holloway said. “Whatever they want. If they want me one more time before the end of the year, I’d love it. But if they give me time to have a vacation, I’d love that too. We’ll see what it is.

“I’m just here to collect checks. The more money, the more better.”

For complete coverage of UFC Fight Night 53, check out the UFC Events section of the site.