Max Holloway surprised everyone with a last-second knockout of Justin Gaethje at UFC 300, despite being an underdog.
Max Holloway, a UFC 300 underdog, stunned everyone with a last-second knockout of Justin Gaethje. “I was counted out,” he admitted during the post-fight press conference. Folks were saying, “Justin’s too big, too strong,” and other stuff. I had to remind them who I am.
Holloway did just that. His knockout sent shockwaves through the MMA community, filling social media feeds worldwide. Even his colleagues at T-Mobile Arena and Alexander Volkanovski, the former UFC featherweight champ who beat him thrice, were among the shocked spectators.
Volkanovski’s reaction was a perfect representation of the journey Holloway took his fans on during the last 10 seconds of the five-round BMF title fight. Until that point, it seemed like Holloway was cruising towards an easy win. Gaethje’s corner had ordered him to apply more pressure, but Holloway had already broken his opponent’s momentum and was on his way to becoming the third BMF champ.
But Holloway wanted more. He challenged Gaethje to a slugfest, just like he did against Ricardo Lamas at UFC 199 nearly eight years ago. By his next fight, Holloway had won his first UFC belt, an interim featherweight title.
The potential benefits of a last-second slugfest were all for Gaethje. But Holloway chose to fight it out, believing the favor would be returned. “If that’s not a BMF moment, I don’t know what is,” Holloway said. “If the cards were flipped and Justin was up … I knew he would give me that 10-second shot.”
The big question after UFC 300 is, will anyone dare to face Holloway in the center octagon again? “I hope so,” he said. “If you want to be a man, if you want to be great, that’s what great fighters do. I ain’t lying. Any weight, whoever, whatever, anyone can get it.”
Holloway’s options are vast and varied after such a result. As the man of the moment – and potentially the year – he could fight at featherweight or lightweight against a variety of top-tier opponents. Even featherweight champ Ilia Topuria broke from his earlier stance, when he advised Holloway and other 145-pound vets to retire because he wouldn’t give them title shots.
With an immediate lightweight title shot off the table – UFC CEO Dana White confirmed Dustin Poirier is set to face Islam Makhachev at UFC 302 – the idea of a return to 145 pounds didn’t sound bad to Holloway. “I’ve got options, it feels great,” he said. “Dana’s happy, [UFC COO Hunter Campell is] happy, [UFC matchmaker] Sean Shelby’s happy. We’re going to sit down with the team and figure it out.
Holloway has already renamed the belt “Blessed Man Forever,” a fitting name considering his career-defining moment. “This is the type of stuff you do to etch your name in the history books,” he said. “I was getting hurt by the wind of [Gaethje’s] shots … that’s how hard he hits.”
“It was just a huge moment for me, being blessed enough to be in there, being at UFC 300, having this event, this event is going to be talked about for ages,” he added later. “I don’t know what card is going to have 12 or more champions on top of it. We might have to wait for UFC 400, and that’s a ways away.”