'%20x='0'%20y='0'%20height='100%25'%20width='100%25'%20%0A%20%20%20%20%20%20%20%20%20%20xlink%3Ahref='data:image/jpg;base64,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'%3E%3C/image%3E%3C/svg%3E)
2022 is all set to be a big year for the UFC and for its biggest star fighters, and some of them already have major clashes booked – but one fighter that doesn’t is Max Holloway.
Max Holloway is a former UFC featherweight champion, but could a move up to 155lbs lie in the future for him this year?
While ‘Blessed’ still sits at the top of the 145lbs division as the top contender to Alexander Volkanovski’s title, the truth is that a move up to the lightweight division could be the best move that Max Holloway could make right now.
With that in mind, here are five reasons why Max Holloway should move to the lightweight division in 2022.
#5. Max Holloway already has two losses to Alexander Volkanovski
Max Holloway might be ranked as the No.1 contender in the UFC featherweight division right now, but for many fans, the thought of him being granted a title shot in 2022 is a little difficult to stomach.
It isn’t that Max Holloway hasn’t earned a shot at the gold at 145lbs. After all, he enjoyed a fantastic 2021, defeating both Calvin Kattar and Yair Rodriguez in impressive fashion. However, there’s one major problem with giving him a title shot in 2022.
That problem is the fact that ‘Blessed’ has already lost to current UFC featherweight champion Alexander Volkanovski twice, and so to give him a third crack at the Australian seems a little like overkill right now.
At the end of the day, fresh title bouts are what keeps the UFC ticking – that’s why Volkanovski’s fight with Brian Ortega was so widely anticipated. Unfortunately for Max Holloway, a third fight with a man who beat him twice is the opposite of fresh. If anything, it’s a little stale.
Sure, you could argue that the Hawaiian deserved the nod in his second bout with ‘Alexander the Great’ at UFC 151, but the judges saw things the other way and that decision deserves respect.
More importantly for Holloway, what would happen if he were to lose a third fight with Volkanovski? Essentially, you could argue that his UFC career might be dead in the water.
With all of this considered, it’d be far better for ‘Blessed’ to simply cut his losses at featherweight – particularly while Volkanovski holds the title there – and move onto fresher pastures.
#4. Max Holloway has run out of fresh match-ups at 145lbs
Max Holloway’s two losses to Alexander Volkanovski wouldn’t be such a big deal were there more fresh bouts lying in wait for ‘Blessed’ at 145lbs. If that were the case, then the Hawaiian could easily keep fighting tough opponents until there was a title opportunity for him, particularly if Volkanovski were to lose the gold to someone else.
However, the truth is that Max Holloway has almost certainly run out of fresh match-ups at 145lbs.
This should hardly come as a surprise. The Hawaiian has been competing in the UFC for almost a decade, and over that time period he’s put together an impressive amount of fights, stepping into the octagon on 25 occasions.
Max Holloway has faced the likes of Jose Aldo, Anthony Pettis, Frankie Edgar and Charles Oliveira over the years, and he’s never shied away from a challenge.
This has meant, though, that he’s already faced – and beaten – many of the UFC’s highest-ranked featherweights at this time.
‘Blessed’ has beaten Brian Ortega, Yair Rodriguez and Calvin Kattar, all of whom currently sit in the UFC’s top ten at 145lbs.
Sure, the Hawaiian hasn’t fought rising prospects such as Arnold Allen and Giga Chikadze just yet, but the UFC may want to keep those kind of fighters away from a dangerous former champion like Holloway.
Essentially, the only big name ‘Blessed’ hasn’t fought yet at 145lbs would be Chan Sung Jung, and while that would be a cool fight to put together, there’s no doubt that there is a shortage of fresh bouts for Holloway in the division right now – meaning a move could be a better idea.
#3. There are plenty of intriguing battles for Max Holloway at 155lbs
Unlike in the UFC featherweight division, there are absolutely tons of fresh, intriguing bouts for Max Holloway if he were to move to 155lbs. The UFC’s lightweight division has always been stacked with talent, and adding the Hawaiian into the mix would make it even better.
‘Blessed’ has already faced off with Dustin Poirier on two occasions – once at 145lbs and once at 155lbs – but outside of ‘The Diamond’, literally every possible fight for Holloway against the UFC’s top lightweights is intriguing.
Clashes with opponents like Justin Gaethje, Michael Chandler and Tony Ferguson would undoubtedly prove to be wild brawls that could test Holloway’s stellar striking game. Matches with fighters such as Islam Makhachev, Beneil Dariush and Gregor Gillespie, meanwhile, would test his grappling game as few at 145lbs could.
That isn’t even mentioning the fight at 155lbs that could prove to be one of the biggest of the Hawaiian’s UFC career – a rematch with the promotion’s biggest star, Conor McGregor.
Essentially, seeing a fighter the caliber of Max Holloway move up to 155lbs would be a breath of fresh air, and the amount of cool fights potentially on tap for him would make such a move well worth it.
#2. The weight cut to 145lbs may begin to affect Max Holloway detrimentally
Perhaps the biggest reason for Max Holloway to move to 155lbs would be the potential damage that he’s doing to his body by continually cutting to 145lbs.
Sure, Holloway has fought 24 of his 25 UFC bouts at 145lbs and has yet to miss weight outright, but it’s clear that the Hawaiian cuts a lot of weight to hit that mark.
Standing at 5’11”, ‘Blessed’ is one of the larger featherweights on the UFC’s roster, and reports have even suggested that he walks around at around 180lbs when he isn’t preparing for a fight.
Sure, it might’ve been easy for the younger Holloway to make that kind of drastic weight cut without any issues, but at the age of 30 and with a decade of UFC action under his belt, the cut will not get any easier for him.
In fact, the Hawaiian may have already begun to experience problems caused from such a huge weight cut. 2018 saw him withdraw from his planned fight with Brian Ortega at UFC 226 with “concussion-like symptoms”. Although it was never corroborated, this mysterious issue was linked to weight cutting more than once.
With that in mind, then, it’d probably be better for Max Holloway’s health if he were to just move to 155lbs. The 10lbs gap between lightweight and featherweight might seem small, but in this case, it could make all the difference.
#1. Max Holloway matches up well with current UFC lightweight champ Charles Oliveira
The UFC is well known to treat its former champions a little differently than the other fighters on its roster, and a well-known company man like Max Holloway is certainly no exception to that rule.
Simply put, Dana White and company love the Hawaiian, and it’s easy to see why. He’s seemingly willing to fight any opponent at any time, never moans about his position on the card, and has never entered into a spat with the promotion over his pay.
That means that were he to move to 155lbs, the UFC would undoubtedly love to reward him with a title shot – perhaps after just one win in the lightweight division.
If ‘Blessed’ could pick up that win, then a fight with current UFC lightweight champ Charles Oliveira could be on the cards – and it’s hard to overlook the idea that Holloway matches up well with ‘Do Bronx’.
Sure, his 2015 win over the Brazilian can probably be discounted – it came due to a freak injury to Oliveira’s throat – but Holloway’s blend of brutal combination striking and underrated grappling would make him a nightmare opponent for the current lightweight king.
It’s hard to imagine Holloway slowing down as Dustin Poirier did in his fight with Oliveira, for instance, nor would it be easy for the Brazilian to catch the Hawaiian in one of his trademark chokes.
If he were to play his cards right, then, Holloway could be just one fight away from a shot at ‘Do Bronx’, and in turn, could only be two fights away from UFC gold. When you consider this, a move to 155lbs for him is almost a no-brainer.
