Former UFC champion Max Holloway looking to become two weight champ against Gaethje
T-Mobile Arena, Las Vegas, Nevada USA
T-Mobile Arena, Las Vegas, Nevada USA
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00:00 Max, we're going to fight week but not just any fight week UFC 300 fight weeks
00:12 you know you've been atop of these amazing cars before you've been in title
00:15 fights before but does this one feel a little bit extra special? For sure you
00:19 know first things first you gotta ask Connor what are you laughing about on
00:21 your comment brother. Yeah I did see that. Yeah yeah yeah go ask him, go ask him what are you
00:26 laughing about. Hopefully he can get lucky charm shorts or something good for
00:29 him you know. We are talking of course about the floral pattern shorts you've
00:32 got for this fight yeah did post it Connor did put a laughing emoji on it
00:36 but curious how you feel about being able to rep them in the octagon. I loved
00:40 it I loved it man I loved it you know it came it came together real quick being
00:44 able to use it here at UFC 300 hopefully hopefully leave it for me so I can keep
00:49 using it every fight so we see what happens. Do you think that's important
00:52 for athletes to be able to represent themselves and sort of express
00:55 themselves on ways other than just you know their fights? I think it's cool yeah
00:59 I think I think it's a great way you know put it put a little flavor in it
01:02 you know I guess I understand the whole uniform look because we're trying to you
01:06 know go after like you know follow other major sporting leagues so at the end of the day
01:11 I get it but to have your own flavor and finally I get mine's it's I
01:15 mean the people wanted it you know I mean tell where is Hunter or Dana tell
01:20 them tell the numbers of the sales because I want to see I'm pretty sure
01:23 that floor shorts is popping. Justin Gaethje right obviously a phenomenal
01:26 fighter BMF when this fight was announced I saw the reaction with
01:30 someone oh he hits too hard for Max you know a guy's never been dropped before
01:33 in the octagon when you see those comments and people apparently being
01:37 concerned for you about your career after this fight do you just think okay
01:40 well we'll see on Saturday? We find out we find out you know that's the
01:44 beautiful thing every time I did any of these interviews go watch it all fight
01:48 week every time they asked me what is you know what is the main thing what is
01:52 when you come to think of Justin what do you think of this fight I think of
01:55 violence and this happens you know I smile you know I smile this is this is
02:00 what real fighters is about Justin's a BMF the beautiful thing is everybody has
02:05 questions and there we have the answers come UFC 300 Saturday night. I've been
02:11 watching your YouTube channel great content on there I recommend everyone go
02:14 watch it you've been showing yourself bulking up for this fight a bit more
02:17 than you did for that Dustin fight how do you feel now walking around ready for
02:20 a lightweight title fight? Brother I mean it is what it is you know I talked about
02:24 this earlier today I hate talking about it but you know that Dustin fight was it
02:28 is what it is you know my manager's calling me muffin top Max this whole
02:33 camp you know so at the end of the day that's what it was you know for this
02:36 fight and we wanted to put on the right weight one put on one to be smart we
02:41 wanted to be strong but we still wanted to be fast so I think we found found a
02:46 very even ground and you guys get to see come Saturday night. There was a quote
02:51 from your coach on one of your video blogs where he said Max already has a
02:54 BMF belt and it's in his chest do you think comparing your skills to Gaethje's
02:58 that this could come down to whose heart is bigger and do you think you beat him
03:02 in that category? We see what happens you know we see it happens I think a true
03:06 BMF is a guy who you know who's willing to fight and go in there like gladiator
03:10 days you know and he said it before if he was like I said I'm a gladiator he
03:14 said in gladiator he would have fight to the death you know in a Coliseum so the
03:18 beautiful thing is we get to find out man we get to find out attrition is
03:23 gonna be a big thing in this sport I believe in this fight with him and we
03:28 get to find out. Max we're here just one last quick one on the jump up to
03:32 lightweight was that a conscious decision after the Dustin fight like
03:35 coming off of that like if I ever go back up to lightweight I have to
03:38 approach this differently or was that just a change right now for the just I
03:42 mean the Dustin I hate talking about it I hate saying it we just they came with
03:46 opportunity and opportunities like that you cannot you cannot you do not say no
03:50 you know it was just a time thing with the Justin one I think it was like six
03:55 weeks or whatever and if you count down the two weeks that you you you kind of
03:59 come down from training week that's like a four week you know I mean so at the end
04:02 day real fighters stay ready like I always said and I felt like I was ready
04:05 if you go watch that Dustin fight there's a couple things that I had to
04:09 change and you know the outcome is different you know I mean and now we had
04:13 10 weeks 10 11 weeks I don't know what it is for this fight you guys get to see
04:18 the difference you know a lot of people like looking in the past a lot of people
04:21 like searching for stuff they keep forgetting what's right in front of them
04:24 you know and you guys gonna see come Saturday night. Justin has obviously
04:28 famously declared himself the most exciting fighter in the UFC I'm curious
04:32 do you agree with that or do you kind of put yourself above that? I mean how are
04:35 you gonna disagree with him the guy I what 12 fights in the UFC 12 bonuses
04:38 brother that speaks for itself it is what it is I'm just excited to be
04:43 sharing the octagon with him come UFC 200 on a big event like this when you
04:47 got when you got a card like this the spotlight like this on us being the
04:53 people main event already you know I think we can still show the UFC pushing
04:56 pushing every time I see an ad on UFC for UFC 200 is me and Justin so at the
05:01 end of the day my Tim, Tim Daniel someone needs to get on the phone with Dana and
05:06 Hunter and we're gonna talk numbers about some things cuz it's looking kind
05:10 of funny. And Justin said that I think the ideal scenario for him would be
05:13 doctor stoppage because it doesn't really want to put you out cold because
05:16 he has respect for you so I'm curious what do you think of that prediction? I
05:19 mean it's cool you know it's cool I don't want to put the man out cold
05:23 either but it's the fight game that's what we love you know like I said for 25
05:28 minutes I'm gonna go in there he's gonna come for my neck I'm gonna come for his
05:31 neck and you know after we can hug it out you know go get a beer I mean I
05:36 don't drink beer he can get his beer maybe I get a shot with him and you know
05:39 we get a pizza or something. Last one for me can I get your thoughts on the main
05:42 event between Alex and Jamal? I think it's gonna be a fun one I think a lot
05:46 of people are calling out Jamal just because he only as good as your last
05:49 fight and Jamal's last fight was what like I don't know how long was he out?
05:54 15 months brother like nobody even cares you know that's just what it is
05:58 you know and then the you see him posting funny videos and everybody keep
06:03 hating on him like us fighters don't have a life outside of training so at
06:06 the end of the day I think it's gonna be a crazy fight both of them have
06:10 crazy power you know everybody talked about Alex's power and I think Jamal has
06:16 that crazy power too how much time he he made the man he made a man in Johnny
06:20 Walker do like something crazy after getting hit that's that was kind of
06:24 amazing so I think it's gonna be a tough fight man it's a pick 'em fight it's a
06:28 coin toss and I'm glad that I get to be here and witness it. Max people were very
06:35 excited by your idea to have Mark Coleman wrap the title Justin was in
06:39 full agreement any update is this gonna happen on Saturday? I didn't see it I
06:42 didn't see it but I heard he's gonna be here and he probably be in Dana White's
06:46 section right so I mean even if he's there maybe if I see him or Justin see
06:52 him maybe we just tell him go in the cage you know who's gonna stop who's
06:55 gonna stop him from entering the octagon you know good luck. Justin also said he
06:58 wants $300,000 bonuses for this for UFC 300 can you use some of your sway you
07:04 being here for a long time? Oh yeah brother I'm going I'm going to when we
07:07 did a fighter meeting we always have a fighter meeting I'm gonna throw it out
07:10 there I'm gonna say 500k so we can we can start you know like we can start
07:14 going back for okay at 400 and 300 I'm a final offer 150 come on this is UFC 300
07:19 it's huge the two guys that is pushing the pushing the fight is asking for why
07:24 not you know. Yep I agree and I remember you said at one point when you're growing
07:28 out the hair that you were never gonna come into a fight week with short hair
07:31 again why did you change your mind? I mean just because you guys a lot of
07:40 people is forgetting who Max Bless Holloway was they didn't need a reminder
07:44 UFC 300 was a time and you guys about to see a whole different animal you
07:50 know. Hey Max right here Max so I saw on your Instagram you built the Max Holloway
08:00 Fitness Center and the Y-Knife Clubhouse for the Boys and Girls Club I mean
08:04 obviously as a guy who's been very impacted by martial arts what did it
08:07 mean to you personally to be able to give back to your community at that
08:10 level? It mean a lot you know I mean being able to give back to my community
08:15 at the Y-Knife Boys and Girls Club was huge I always wanted to do something for
08:18 my community so it mean a lot they also gave me the health and
08:22 fitness ambassador of the Boys and Girls Club so that was huge but to be able to
08:27 have that little gym spot in there to have kids train safe and be smart and
08:33 do the right decision you know like when we went open I told the kids a lot of
08:37 them is scrappy already you know so hopefully we can we can grab that energy
08:42 grab a lot of energy and put it in a right direction you know hopefully five
08:45 ten years 15 years some kid from that gym that started that gym or even just
08:50 touched and trained in that gym might be sitting in front of you one day and
08:54 that would be a mission complete. Max back here you've already left such a strong
09:00 legacy at featherweight I really don't know that you have anything left to
09:04 prove there is lightweight gonna be your new weight class or do you plan on going
09:08 back down to 145? We see what happens we see it happens you know in this sport
09:13 having options is always good you know and first things first is Justin Gaethje
09:16 but there's a fun fight down there that the man keeps talking and I
09:22 keep hearing you know so my only advice to that guy is like when the contract
09:27 come up sign the dotted line don't make no excuses.
09:40 This is huge bro this is huge this is the huge this is UFC 300 what more can I
09:45 ask for like I said every time we fight in Hawaii you guys every time we fight
09:49 in Las Vegas the ninth island you guys see all the Hawaiian flags you know I
09:52 mean and being UFC 300 being this big being on a card like this being on a
09:59 history card it's it's gonna be huge you guys gonna see a Hawaiian flag swarmed
10:03 at them arena like always and I'm just blessed to be a part of a part of this.
10:09 Other than that amount of preparation from that last fight in the sport in 55 are there any things from that specific fight that you can take as learning experiences or to get your head raise this time in 55?
10:19 Not really man Dustin and Dustin Gaethje is two different animals you know two
10:23 different beats two different fighting styles two different stances so and two
10:27 different ways of attacks we see what happens you know I feel like I'm a
10:32 feel like I'm a vet in this game I fought a who's who and at the end of the day this is
10:36 another guy up there that I got to figure out when I get in there so we find
10:39 out UFC 200. Max over here so if you get BMF title probably next matchup for you
10:45 is the new champion Ilya Toporea and what do you think about it? Questionable that's it
10:50 questionable I got everybody keep asking me what do I think of Toporea? Yeah
10:55 fighting Toporea. He's questionable I'll fight him you go ask him that question
11:00 ask him that question about me at the end of the day UFC I always wanted to
11:05 fight for the title I always want to do this a lot of contenders they gave me
11:08 they gave me a lot of up-and-coming contenders and then there's one that
11:12 didn't come up to towards my way so you can ask UFC about that you can ask
11:16 him the question.
11:18 [BLANK_AUDIO]