Max Holloway plans career change and says he is inspired by Alex Poatan

Max Holloway was defeated for Ilia Topuria No. UFC 308. Photo: Instagram / UFC

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Max Holloway experienced one of the most traumatic defeats of his career in UFC 308, after being knocked out for the first time in his career by Ilia Topuria, in a fight valid for the featherweight division title (up to 65,7 kg). After the defeat, the 'Blessed' began to seek a new goal: the lightweight belt (up to 70,3 kg.), claiming to have the journey of Alex Poatán as inspiration.

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During a live on Kick, Holloway spoke about his goals and mentioned the objective of repeating Poatan's achievements in his own career.

“All I know is we saw Alex Pereira get knocked out, right? In the next fight, he fought for the number one contender position, he fought for the title and he’s on a spectacular reign now. Let’s emulate that, let’s do it. I look up to that. He’s a beast, a beast!”, concluded the fighter.

MAX HOLLOWAY: “We saw Alex Pereira get finished… Next fight he fought for a #1 contender spot, [then he] fought for the title and he's on a spectacular title run…

Let's mimic him. Let's do it. I get inspiration in that. He’s a beast.”

VIA | KICK —@blessedmma #UFC #MMA pic.twitter.com/96r4sZ89tr

— FEDZ_MMA (@Fedzmma) November 8, 2024

Alex Poatan and Max Holloway

The excerpt from Poatan's career cited by Max Holloway concerns the loss of the middleweight belt (up to 83,9 kg) in April 2023. On that occasion, the Brazilian was knocked out by Israel adesanya No. UFC 287. He later changed categories and debuted in the light heavyweight division (up to 93 kg) against Jan Blachowicz. With the split decision victory, Poatan moved on to a title fight against Jiri Prochazka and won his second belt at the biggest MMA event in the world.

Holloway was featherweight champion (up to 65,7 kg) between 2017 and 2019, being defeated by Alexander Volkanovsky. Since then, the Hawaiian has been defeated in three other title fights in the category. As a lightweight, he lost to Dustin poirier in combat for the interim belt and knocked out Justin gaethje No. UFC 300, becoming the new owner of the BMF belt.

Max Holloway in knockout over Justin gaethje (Photo: Instagram/UFC)