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Max Holloway feels it's unfair that Charles Oliveira was stripped of the lightweight title for weighing in at just 0.5 lbs above the lightweight limit of 155lbs ahead of the Brazilian's clash with Justin Gaethje at UFC 274.
Although Oliveira defeated Gaethje in their lightweight title clash, he had to vacate the title for failing to make weight.
'Blessed' has claimed that 0.5lbs is too little of a margin over which to strip a fighter of the title. Holloway added that he feels bad for 'Do Bronx' because he'd have another successful title defense to his name had he not been stripped and now in his next bout, Oliveira will have to fight for the vacant title instead.
During a recent interaction with Ariel Helwani on The MMA Hour, Max Holloway said:
"I feel bad for the guy, man. The guy who was weighing him in was a stickler, bud. It is what it is. It was like moving, you know, you should have let it move a little like that and said 155. I don't know what happened but it sucks. It sucks for him because now his next fight is not going to be a title defense if he wins it. If he wins he takes the title back so that's history getting taken away from Oliveira and I feel bad for the guy."
Watch clips from the interview below:
Max Holloway eyeing clash with Charles Oliveira upon potential move to lightweight division
Max Holloway has the chance to become a world champion at the upcoming UFC 276 pay-per-view event on July 2. If he manages to reconquer the featherweight throne, Holloway has plans to move up to the lightweight division in the quest to become a two-division UFC champion.
'Blessed' previously moved up to 155lbs and was even booked to fight Khabib Nurmagomedov for the title. The fight, however, failed to come to fruition as Hollway was deemed unfit to fight on the day of the weigh-ins. He also challenged Dustin Poirier for the interim lightweight title but lost to 'The Diamond' in a back-and-forth battle.
If he becomes featherweight champion again, Holloway wants another crack at lightweight gold and potentially against top contender Charles Oliveira. During an interview with ESPN MMA’s Brett Okamoto, he said:
"The dude’s in demon mode right now… We’ll see what happens with that one. He and I know we had unfinished business since like, forever."
Watch the full interview with Holloway below:
