Max Holloway held his head high following his loss to Alexander Volkanovski at UFC 245, promising to be back, and ready.
Las Vegas, NV — The Blessed Era is over, but Max Holloway continues to be a class act. Following a five-round decision loss to Alexander Volkanovski at UFC 245, Holloway (21-5), despite losing his featherweight title, held his head high.
He joked. He laughed. He was honest. He had a snack alongside his son.
“I don’t know what happened. I felt I was doing enough, but there’s three guys whose opinions matter the most,” Holloway told reporters including Cageside Press when asked about the outcome of the bout.
“At the end of the date, we’ll be back. I’m only 28. I’m only 28 guys, I’ll be back. I’ll be back, and I’ll be ready,” he promised.
Holloway had nothing but respect for new champ Volkanovski, and how he conducted himself during the fight. “Even before this fight. How he would talk about, if he had to fight for an interim title, he would do it. He he had to fight people under him, he would do it. That’s the exact way I came up,” noted the Hawaiian. “If you’re a champion, you have to fight the guys under you anyway. So this guy was already doing that and willing to do that, and that’s what I respect about him.”
While many observers had the fight in favor of Volkanovski, Holloway himself thought he’d won rounds 3, 4, and 5. Still, as he later put it, “there’s only three opinions that matters. Like the great Burt Watson said, ‘don’t leave it to the judges, they’ll make you cry.’ They made me cry twice in 2019.”
That, of course, was in reference to his lightweight loss to Dustin Poirier. Moving into 2020, joked Holloway, it’s “new year, new me!”
There’s a lot of interest in a rematch with Volkanovski already. “I’ll sit down with my team. Sit down with my team, watch the tape. Sit down with Dana. If they hit me up, it is what it is. If the fans make it happen, it is what it is. I’m a fighter, I fight,” said Holloway, who said that his next move would be a team decision.
Lightweight could also be a possibility, but again, team decision. Of course there’s one big name Holloway would love to fight, he said with a smile. “There’s this guy broadcasting, he was doing the broadcasting. Big husky guy, going by the name Dan Cormier. He’s eating everything I worked for. You know who the money fight is, D.C. The real money fight is me!”
And there’s the thing about Max Holloway: his positive energy is infectious. Even in a loss, he managed to put smiles on everyone in the room. Even coming off what has to be one of the biggest lows of his career.
While most observers feel that Volkanovski’s leg kicks were a huge factor in the fight, Holloway later said he legs were fine following the battle. “I feel great. I feel good. I could go five more rounds right now.” Holloway’s son, a.k.a. Mini-Blessed, shook his head “no” to that comment. “This guy don’t know what he’s talking about,” Holloway said with a laugh. “Baby Yoda’s going to get it!”
Watch the full UFC 245 post-fight press conference with Max Holloway above!
