Max Holloway does not expect what happened in his last fight will affect how the UFC 318 Main Event is set.
Holloway is in a rare scenario that leads to Saturday's pay-per-view, because the old fan favorite is somewhat a villain in New Orleans.
'Blessed' is in hostile field to serve as the opponent for the UFC 318 pension fight of Dustin Poirier, which takes place in the home state of Louisiana of the former interim light weight champion.
Holloway was eliminated the last time out in October 2024 by Ilia Topuria, with the Hawaiian shortage in a return to the featherweight throne. Now the 33-year-old has the task of spoiling someone else's title ambitions while he is preparing for his first defense of the symbolic BMF belt.
But in the eyes of some, the efforts of Holloway against Poirier will probably be impeded by what happened nine months ago in Abu Dhabi.
Max Holloway Enlightened Fan is worried about his return after the KO to UFC 318
During a Fight Week interview with Daniel Cormier, Holloway held his first Octagon outing of 2025 and spoke one of the best stories that led to UFC 318.
Alexander Volkanovski pointed on Saturday to Holloway Loss as a potential key factor, a sentiment that is shared by many fans and analysts in the MMA community.
However, 'blessed' is not worried at all.
“I felt that we (were) competing,” Holloway said about the Topuria fight. “At the end of the day he hit me with something that my body felt, such as:” Hey, look, it's time to go down. “
“I'm working hard here. He has something I want. I want to become a member of the elites to become a double champion.
“Not at all,” Holloway added when he was asked if the KO was difficult to overcome. 'Even everyone who talks about it – I see the media, I see everyone as:' How will he respond afterwards, for his next fight? Is he not touched? '
“I am the same man, do you know what I mean?”
Max Holloway's path to an Ilia Topuria -Rematch could go through the latest opponent of the champion
While Poirier will say goodbye to active MMA competition after UFC 318, Holloway has insisted that his career in the cage is far from his conclusion.
With that in mind, 'blessed' is looking for a chance of redemption against Topuria now that the couple are both permanent luminaires in the lightweight division.
And according to the Lead-by-Play commentator of the UFC, Jon Anik, Holloway has to look to go through Charles Oliveira in a rematch, regardless of the result in the UFC 318 Main Event.
“There are many big fights for Holloway with 155 pounds, win or loss this fight,” Anik told Shark's opportunities. “I don't know, man. Holloway vs. Oliveira 2? I mean, God, I think that's the fight.”
Topuria played Oliveira on UFC 317 to become the latest second division champion in the leading promotion of MMA. While he seems to start his own path to 'El Matador', the Brazilian also pointed to Holloway as a logical next opponent for later this year.