Max Holloway’s win at UFC 318 over Dustin Poirier seems to be his solely battle of 2025.
“Blessed” spoiled Poirier’s retirement and retained the BMF title with a unanimous resolution victory in the principle occasion of the promotion’s current pay-per-view occasion. With the win, the fantasy matchmakers have thrown out a slew of enjoyable concepts for Holloway’s subsequent matchup, however in accordance with the previous featherweight titleholder, his subsequent battle seemingly gained’t be till a while in 2026 resulting from a hand damage suffered within the battle.
“I see lots of people speaking about who’s subsequent, who’s this, there’s loads of enjoyable fights for me at [lightweight],” Holloway stated on his YouTube channel. “There’s [Charles Oliveira], if [Justin Gaethje] will get the following title shot, that will be cool. If I get the following title shot, that’d be sick, however when you’ve got hopes of me combating earlier than the tip of the 12 months, most likely not going to occur.
“I see a specialist someday [soon], I already met with my physician, now I acquired to go meet the specialist, however issues usually are not seeking to up for me combating yet another time this 12 months. So all of that battle discuss is on nonetheless, so we simply get to see how the [lightweight division] goes to pan out.”
Previous to his victory over Poirier, Holloway was stopped through strikes for the primary time in his profession by the now light-weight champion Ilia Topuria at UFC 308 this previous October. Topuria vacated the 145-pound belt after stopping Holloway, after which brutally knocked out Charles Oliveira in the principle occasion of UFC 317 in June to seize his second title.
Topuria’s subsequent opponent has not been introduced. The names that appear to be in play among the many fan base for “El Matador” are Arman Tsarukyan, Paddy Pimblett, and Justin Gaethje.
Holloway is questioning why extra individuals aren’t placing his title within the dialog, particularly with Gaethje’s title within the combine, who Holloway knocked out at UFC 300 in vicious vogue.
“I get to be a fan a bit bit,” Holloway defined. “[I get to] be a father. … I’m excited for the longer term, however what’s subsequent? I couldn’t let you know. Now this silly damage pushed me again a bit bit, so we don’t know what’s going to occur.
“However even when I didn’t have this damage, the talks is wild. On the finish of the day [fans are saying]… lots of people are saying me and Ilia don’t make sense as a result of my final battle earlier than this one was Ilia, and he did what he did to me, proper? However then how do you make a case for somebody that I fought — I do know he didn’t battle Ilia, however I fought him — I did what I did to him, and he’s going to battle subsequent for the title after simply successful one [fight]. As a result of most of you guys don’t know what you’re speaking about. Most of you guys don’t know shit about combating.”
