‘Ship has sailed’ for Max Holloway at featherweight

Michael Bisping sees new life for Max Holloway at lightweight.

Holloway (26-8 MMA, 22-8 UFC) failed to regain the featherweight title when he was knocked out by champion Ilia Topuria this past Saturday in the UFC 308 headliner. The loss to Topuria marked the first time Holloway was ever stopped by strikes in his career.

Prior to the Topuria loss, Holloway scored an iconic last-second knockout of Justin Gaethje to capture the BMF title at UFC 300. The win placed him No. 5 in the UFC’s lightweight rankings, and that’s where Bisping thinks Holloway should put all of his focus moving forward.

“The time is done. That ship has sailed: Move on,” Bisping said of Holloway’s featherweight days on his “Believe You Me” podcast. “You’re getting older. The weight cut’s tougher. You’ve had a couple of losses. You almost became the champion again. You looked incredible against Justin Gaethje – you took his shots, you knocked him out cold. He’s ranked No. (5) at lightweight. There’s a lot of fun fights for (Holloway) at 155 pounds.

“There’s Dan Hooker, there’s (Dustin) Poirier, there’s Gaethje, Charles Oliviera – which by the way, them three would all be rematches, which is wild. Arman Tsarukyan, he fights Islam (Makhachev) – there’s nothing but big fights for (Holloway) at 155 pounds. And given that he’s ranked No. 5 already, one, two fights, Max Holloway is trying to become a champion at 155 pounds. So it’s far from over.”

Holloway himself appears to have acknowledged that a move back up to lightweight is the best next step for him.

“I had the best 145 cut here,” Holloway said during the UFC 308 post-fight news conference. “But what else is there to do? I had a couple times to reclaim it. New guys coming up. Yeah, that’d be fun. But I think 155 looks more fun, fighting more, the caliber, everyone there, and the names there – it looks really exciting to put my name in the mix.”

Holloway already had one crack at the lightweight title when he faced Dustin Poirier for the interim belt in April 2019. He lost the bout by unanimous decision.