Max Holloway has offered an update on his fight camp ahead of his UFC 300 lightweight fight against Justin Gaethje on April 13th.
Max Holloway will be moving up to 155lbs for the first time since his vacant lightweight title fight against Dustin Poirier in 2019.
Despite that fight not going his way, ‘Blessed’ only had six weeks to prepare for that fight and so wasn’t able to put on as much size as he would’ve liked.
Max Holloway is feeling less ‘broken’ ahead of UFC 300
The former featherweight champion has had considerably longer to prepare for this lightweight bout as opposed to his last one. The 32-year-old explained in his recent YouTube video that the difference between his last lightweight showing and this one will be a drastic difference.
“Everyone keeps bringing up the fight with Poirier at 155lbs and it is what it is, I said what I said, no excuses, I just had six weeks for that camp this camp we had 10 or more weeks I can’t even remember how long we had, that’s how long we had.” Holloway explained.
Justin Gaethje is coming in off a huge KO win over Dustin Poirier at UFC 291 back in July and will likely secure a lightweight title shot if he is able to successfully defend his BMF title.
Although it would be assumed that Holloway is faster at 145lbs than 155lbs, he admitted that he feels faster during this camp than in his previous camps because he feels less ‘broken’.
“We’re at that point where your body starts breaking down even though it is 10lbs heavier, I get to eat a little bit more so I guess I’m more broken down at 145lbs. At the end of the day, you’re at that place in the camp where everything just starts shutting down this is the hard weeks.
“I want maybe a couple more hard workouts and then it’s chilling till fight day. I feel faster too, we were doing a lot of reactive stuff here just to keep that speed up.” Holloway said.
Max Holloway makes ‘gladiator’ comparison and references pound-for-pound rankings
Despite no longer holding the UFC strap, the Hawaiian is ranked in the top 15 of the men’s pound-for-pound rankings.
Max Holloway compared his situation to that of a ‘gladiator’, as he talked about the pound-for-pound list and being willing to fight anyone at any weight.
“That’s why me and you are different” Max Holloway explained in his YouTube video, “That’s why a lot of fighters are cut from a different cloth, some fighters are worried about certain weights, why? If you’re on the pound-for-pound list you should be willing to fight anybody, that’s what the pound-for-pound list is for.
“I’m sick and tired of everybody telling me how I’ve got to do, putting a limit on me just because you put a limit on yourself, don’t put a limit on others. If I was born in a different time I’d be a gladiator, and the last time I checked, gladiators don’t walk around with a scale telling you how many kilograms they weigh.” Holloway said.
Blockbuster UFC 300 lineup
As well as the blockbuster BMF title fight between Max Holloway and Justin Gaethje, UFC 300 boasts two other title fights, amongst a host of other extremely high-level bouts.
The full UFC 300 main card is as follows:
- Alex Pereira (9-2) vs Jamahal Hill (12-1-1 NC) – Light Heavyweight title fight
- Zhang Weili (24-3) vs Yan Xiaonan 17-3-1 NC) – Strawweight title fight
- Justin Gaethje (25-4) vs Max Holloway (25-7) – BMF title fight
- Charles Oliveira (34-9-1 NC) vs Arman Tsarukyan (21-3) – Lightweight fight
- Bo Nickal (5-0) vs Cody Brundage (10-5) – Middleweight fight