With a 1-2 win-loss record this year, Max Holloway believes he can bounce back big time in 2020.
On Saturday night, the Hawaiian fan-favourite saw his featherweight title slipping his hands, following a competitive decision loss to Alexander Volkanovski in the co-main event of UFC 245 in Las Vegas.
The defeat ended a four-straight title defence and a solid run in the featherweight division that consists of 13 consecutive wins.
Prior to this loss, Holloway defeated Frankie Edgar at UFC 240 and bowed to Dustin Poirier in their UFC 236 clash for the interim lightweight title.
In a post-fight interview with ESPN’s Brett Okamoto, the featherweight great remains gracious in defeat and said the ‘ups and downs’ of his career is a part of his journey towards greatness.
Building A Path
Holloway has planned to collect more belts in different weight classes as he aims to become the best MMA fighter in the world.
Finding himself in an unfamiliar territory with a 1-2 run this year, ‘Blessed’ said MMA fans will see a new version of him in 2020.
“It is what it is. It’s a fight, you know what I mean? If you could be undefeated that’d be amazing, you know?” he said, (transcript from BJPenn.com).
“But at the end of the day not that many mixed martial artists are undefeated, only a few are. It’s my second loss in 2019.”
“We’re a couple of weeks away from New Year’s. New year, new me. Blessed era’s still in full effect in 2020.”
“I think these ups and downs are meant to be.”
“This is how you build a path, this is how you become the greatest of all time, you gotta go through these moments and I live for all these moments.”
“The ups, the downs, the good times, the great times, and we’ll go from there.”
Holloway said he is open to an immediate rematch with the new champion but he leaves the decision to UFC president, Dana White.
Watch the interview in the video below:
In case you miss it, here are the full results from UFC 245 fight card (via MMA Fighting):
Main card
Kamaru Usman def. Colby Covington via fifth-round TKO (4:10) – for the welterweight title
Alexander Volkanovski def. Max Holloway via UD – for the featherweight title
Amanda Nunes def. Germaine de Randamie via UD – for the bantamweight title
Marlon Moraes def. Jose Aldo via split decision
Petr Yan def. Urijah Faber via third-round KO (0:43)
Undercard
Geoff Neal def. Mike Perry via first-round TKO (1:30)
Irene Aldana def. Ketlen Vieira via first-round KO (4:51)
Omari Akhmedov def. Ian Heinisch via unanimous decision (29-28 x3)
Matt Brown def. Ben Saunders via second-round KO (4:55)
Chase Hooper def. Daniel Teymur via first-round TKO (4:34)
Brandon Moreno def. Kai Kara-France via UD (29-28 x2, 30-27)
Jessica Eye def. Viviane Araujo via unanimous decision (29-28 x3)
Punahele Soriano def. Oskar Piechota via first-round KO (3:17)
(Featured Image Source: Instagram/ Max Holloway and Alexander Volkanovski)