In the lead-up to his UFC 206 main event against Anthony Pettis, Max Holloway walked with the quiet confidence of a champion, and Saturday at Toronto’s Air Canada Centre, he earned the hardware to go with it, stopping Pettis in the third round to win the interim UFC featherweight belt.
But the 25-year-old Holloway, Hawaii’s first UFC champion since BJ Penn, won’t be satisfied until he unifies the belt with current titleholder Jose Aldo, and he’s got just the place for it.
“Meet me in Brooklyn,” Holloway shouted, referring to February’s UFC 208 card at Barclays Center. “Let’s get the real one.”
It’s what Holloway has wanted throughout his 10-fight winning streak, but to reach that magic number 10, he had to get by the former lightweight champion, whose failure to make weight for Saturday’s bout left him ineligible to win the interim belt. After the fight, Pettis said he would be moving back to the 155-pound division while giving Holloway praise for the win.
“Max Holloway is a beast,” Pettis said. “I’ll give it to you straight. He got in there and stood with me and he got the belt. He’s a good fighter.”
Thumbnail photo via Tom Szczerbowski/USA TODAY Sports Images