UFC champ Max Holloway: Dana White 'always solves problem,' will get new deal done

Featherweight champ Max Holloway has yet to meet with UFC President Dana White on a new contract, but he’s confident they’ll hammer out a deal soon.

“We’re going to figure it out,” Holloway on Monday told MMAjunkie Radio. “Dana White figures it out. He’s the man. Whenever there’s a problem, he always solves the problem, and I think we’re going to get it done.

“We’re setting up the meeting. We’re going to talk, we’ll go from there. Dana White always finds a way to figure stuff out, so I’m looking forward to talking with him soon.”

Holloway (18-3 MMA, 14-3 UFC) demanded a pay raise immediately after stopping Jose Aldo (27-2 MMA, 9-1 UFC) to claim the undisputed UFC featherweight title earlier this month at UFC 212.

“Dana, I want my meeting!” he said after dethroning the once-dominant Aldo in Brazil. “Pay the man! Pay me money! You said you were a big-game hunting! Tell me what big game! I just got one on your head now!”

After calming down a bit, Holloway explained what he meant during his outburst.

“The bigger the game you bring in to the table, the bigger paychecks you get,” he said at the post-event press conference. “I think Aldo is a silverback gorilla. Now I want my paycheck. I don’t want money fights. I want to get paid.”

Meanwhile, several contenders have stepped up to call out Holloway, including ex-lightweight champ Frankie Edgar (22-5-1 MMA, 16-5-1 UFC) and Cub Swanson (25-7 MMA, 10-3 UFC.

The demand comes at an interesting time for White, who’s in the midst of a dispute with UFC flyweight champ Demetrious Johnson (26-2-1 MMA, 14-1-1 UFC), who spent some recent vacation time with Holloway in his native Hawaii enjoying adult beverages.

White drew fiery backlash online after proclaiming former UFC featherweight champ and current lightweight kingpin Conor McGregor (21-3 MMA, 9-1 UFC) the No. 1 pound-for-pound fighter in the world, unceremoniously ripping the title away from Johnson after reaffirming it earlier this year.

Then again, it’s far from White’s first encounter with an upset fighter seeking a bigger payday.

So far, Holloway hasn’t made money his raison d’etre for stepping into the octagon. But that could be changing in relatively short order.

Asked where negotiations stood, the 25-year-old champ shied away from making any big proclamations about what he’s owed. At this point, he just wants his sit-down.

“And we can go from there,” Holloway said. “The 145-pound division is under new management, man, and we’re open 24-7, seven days out of the week. This is the only place you can come in and you can leave with an ‘L,’ and leave with a smile on your face.

“At the end of the day, everybody can get it. If I didn’t fight you, get ready, and if I did fight you, get emotionally ready, because you know what’s going to happen. I’ve never run away from a fight in my life. There’s just some things we’ve got to figure out, and we can go from there.”

For more on UFC 212, check out the UFC Events section of the site.

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