Kansas City — Former UFC featherweight champ Max Holloway returned to the win column with another impressive performance on Saturday, where he headlined UFC Kansas City opposite Arnold Allen.
The British featherweight brought his A-game, but Holloway was a step ahead through the better part of five rounds.
What’s next for the Hawaiian is now a bit of a puzzle, given he has lost three times to current champ Alexander Volkanovski. Yet once the name of The Korean Zombie was brought up following the Kansas City card, Holloway (24-7) appeared locked in and ready to go.
“Korean Zombie, that is the only guy in my time, with the older guys, that I didn’t get to fight. I would love that fight,” Holloway exclaimed, speaking to media outlets including Cageside Press. “There’s a fight in my agent’s country, Australia, coming up, in when is it? Australia’s supposed to be happening sometime. Australia’s supposed to be happening sometime, we don’t know when. And if Korean Zombie wants to get it, he can get it. He can get it.”
Adding that he would love to fight one of the guys he had grown up as a fighter watching, Holloway said he was “kind of tripping about how the hell we didn’t fight yet. How did we not fight? If that’s one of the guys, then that’s one of the guys. I would love to fight and share the octagon with him. He’s one of the OGs that I didn’t get to fight yet, we came up in the same era and we didn’t fight each other. If that’s it, that’s it.”
While the UFC hasn’t officially announced a return to Australia, it’s no surprise they have another trip planned, as the sport has caught on there thanks to Alexander Volkanovski and Robert Whittaker, the latter born in nearby New Zealand but residing in Sydney.
As for the Allen fight, Holloway did a little less talking than usual in the fight, for one key reason. “Allen is the nicest dude ever, bro. In between, after we hit each other, and the low blows, he’s like ‘aww sorry bud, whatever.’ In between the rounds he’s like thumb upping me and smiling. I can’t talk sh*t to thus guy, he’s a cool dude,” Holloway revealed. “It is what it is.”
The pair were able to exchange pleasantries after the bout. “I told him ‘bro, you’re a legend, you’re tough. And we’ll probably see each other a bunch of times, so don’t worry about it. Keep training, get hard.” Allen even suggested a trip to Hawaii, where Holloway could show him around. “Maybe after our career, because I have a feeling we’re probably going to run it back,” suggested Holloway.
As for the possibility of a Yair Rodriguez win over the champ opening up a path to the 145lb title, Holloway is keeping his eye on the expected July date with Volkanovski.
“We see what happens. May the best man win, I get to be a fan at that fight in July. But we’ll see what happens. Never say never.”
