Holloway reacted to his third loss to Volkanovski, who paid tribute to him. What will happen to his career? An early end is in the cards

Max Holloway is a UFC legend at 30 years old. He is clearly the best featherweight fighter in the division. With one (big) catch. Not for the third time has he found the recipe for the unbeatable Alexander Volkanovsky. What will happen to his career?

30 years, 30 fights, 23 wins, 7 losses, a former champion with three successful defenses, holder of many records, a man no one could put down. Max Holloway is simply an unquestionable legend.

It’s just that in December 2019, he was robbed of his title in a close fight by Alexander Volkanovski. Six months later, he dominated another evenly matched rematch just as well. Subsequently, Holloway took two fights to earn a third chance. However, he lost that again, and most crushingly of the three bouts.

So there’s a problem. Volkanovski seems to be an insurmountable opponent. And he’s getting better. He is the champion, and deservedly so. But what about Holloway, who has beaten everyone else in this division?

Of course, the scenario is that Holloway and Volkanovski can fight forever, but what would be the point? The fact of the matter, however, is that Holloway accepted his third loss with bravura.

First of all, he reminded us that he still leads the trilogy in knockdowns and joked about the fourth fight. He then congratulated Volkanovski and wished him success should he get the chance to dominate the lightweight division. The reaction of the champion from Australia? “You are an absolute legend,” Volkanovski tweeted.

Holloway and the end of his career? It’s not unrealistic

Max Holloway has made it known several times that he doesn’t want to fight past his 35th birthday. So he potentially has five years left. Will he use them? That’s the question. Quite possibly not. In fact, he said before his third fight with Volkanovski that fighting to be second in the world doesn’t make sense.

He may have the mentality that the belt doesn’t necessarily mean everything to him, because he keeps telling himself he’s the champion and lives by that, but he’s also thinking about his health, which he’s already had some problems with because of the record number of punches he’s landed.

Furthermore, Holloway potentially has doors open in another career. His personality has won him many fans and they understandably love to watch him on streams where he plays various games. A career in esports is therefore not impossible. Indeed, he himself has hinted at it.

However, the native of Hawaii is a great fighter and loves to compete. So as long as there are still challenges in his weight division, there is no need to worry about him quitting. But there aren’t many. In the past, then, Holloway has talked about wanting to finish at lightweight, where there would be plenty of challenges.

Source: UFC, MMA Fighting, The Mac Life