After a hard-fought victory over Yair Rodriguez that went the full five rounds and earned the “Fight of the Night” honors and the money that comes with it, UFC Featherweight Champion Max “Blessed” Holloway did not seem like he was ready to start defending his championship again…just yet. Speaking to Michael Bisbing after the fight, he called out a few different contenders than just the ones previously thought to be his next opponents.
“We’ll see what happens,” Holloway told Michael Bisping during his post-fight interview. “There’s Hunter (Campbell), there’s Shawn (Shelby) right there. That’s their damn jobs. I have a win over the 155-pound champion, we have Alex and stuff, I’m on the shortlist for Conor McGregor – tell him to hit my line. We ready whenever.”
Bisbing followed then pressed the champ on which of the contenders he would like to face next and his answer was absolutely perfect. “To be the best you gotta beat the best, and the best is ‘Blessed,” Holloway said, They gotta come after me, baby.”
Every fighter in UFC history to land over 3,000 total strikes, in one picture #UFCVegas42 pic.twitter.com/TxQwmIToSY
— UFC (@ufc) November 14, 2021
He isn't telling any lies there. He is the Featherweight Champion and the all-time leader in strikes in UFC History. What he is not, however, is the pound-for-pound king of the UFC. That title belongs to Kamaru Usman. With the 25 pound difference between the two, there most likely will never be a match between Usman and Holloway, so it is going to take “Blessed” a little bit of time to reach those heights, as he is currently the seventh-ranked pound-for-pound fighter in the world.
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