​Max Holloway suffered his third UFC title setback to Alexander Volkanovski four years ago. Holloway (27-9 MMA, 23-9 UFC) had defended the UFC featherweight title three times before losing to Volkanovski (28-4 MMA, 15-3 UFC) at UFC 245. He then dropped their immediate rematch in a controversial split decision at UFC 251, which left him in a difficult position. Yet Holloway fought his way back into title contention with back-to-back Fight of the Night performances against Calvin Kattar and Yair Rodriguez, earning a trilogy bout with Volkanovski. Their first two encounters were competitive, but Volkanovski sealed the rivalry by shutting Holloway out at UFC 276. Was Holloway finished? Not at all. That defeat sparked a three-fight winning streak, including a dramatic last-second knockout of current lightweight champion Justin Gaethje at UFC 300. Now Holloway is a week away from what could be the biggest fight of his career: a rematch with the returning Conor McGregor (22-6 MMA, 10-4 UFC) in the UFC 329 main event on July 11 at T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas (Paramount+).
“Self-belief is one hell of a drug. It’s one hell of a drug, man,” Holloway told MMA Junkie on the four-year anniversary of his third loss to Volkanovski. “There were a lot of people telling me after that fight that I wasn’t going to be able to do this, that I wasn’t going to be able to do that. Maybe you need to call it quits. A lot of people were telling me I was done in the sport. The beautiful thing is I knew where I stood. You have one off night; it sucks. Having one off night sucks, but if you’re having an off night on multiple days, then I understand. That was just one off night. People are going to talk, and you can’t listen. I know what it is. I know how great I can be and what I can do. Self-belief proved it. I’ve got to do some great things after that Volk fight. After all the Volk fights. After every single Volk fight people told me I was done. After every single Volk fight we fought, people told me I was done. I love proving people wrong.”
“The more you tell me I can’t do it, the louder I’ll yell, ‘Just watch me.’ Have self-belief and put in the work. Not everyone is doing the work. Some guys have self-belief but aren’t putting in the work. But you’ve got to go out there and put the work in, and if your inner circle is questioning you, they probably aren’t in your inner circle. There’s a line where you can tell people what’s best for you, and they do care, but I don’t know how to say it without being harsh. Believe in yourself, get to work.”
Holloway’s knockout of Gaethje earned him the BMF title, which he defended against Dustin Poirier at UFC 318, before losing it most recently to Charles Oliveira at UFC 326. Now he tries to rebound against McGregor, who beat him by unanimous decision in their first featherweight clash, as they gear up for another big showdown with SEO-friendly headlines in mind.