Max Holloway Clarifies ‘Automatic Title Shot’ Against Islam Makhachev After UFC 308 Ilia Topuria Fight

Max Holloway is all set to fac͏e ͏I͏lia Top͏uria͏ in the ma͏in event of UFC 308.͏ The former͏ featherweight champi͏on and current BMF title͏holder͏ is closer than͏ ͏ever to b͏ecom͏ing a t͏riple͏ champion—how͏, you ask?͏ ͏Well, i͏f “Blessed” gets past Ilia Topuri͏a and wins ͏t͏he feathe͏rweight title, he could potentially move up t͏o ch͏alle͏nge for the light͏we͏igh͏t bel͏t. At least that’s what the reporters think will happen if Max Holloway becomes a double champ.

At the pre-fight press conference, Max Holloway answered a multitude of questions, one of which confirmed that he would receive a title shot in the lightweight division if he became the featherweight champion. “Winning Saturday night automatically gets you a lightweight shot against Islam. Does it excite you, knowing that it replaces the long-anticipated match that never happened against Khabib?” asked the reporter.

Upon hearing the question, Max Holloway first laughed for a moment before humbly responding to the reporter, stating that he wasn’t sure if this would happen or not, “I mean, unless you work in the UFC, then I don’t know nothing because I have never heard of that, but it would be amazing news to me if I got my hands raised up and knew that there’s a direct shot.”

He further added that it would be exciting to fight Islam Makhachev, considering the fact that he closely resembles Khabib Nurmagomedov in fighting style, “But for sure, like I said, man, I have been talking all week, I missed the shot with the Khabib fight. They call Islam the 2.0, and I know Islam is more willing to fight me now. I know he didn’t care too much—I mean, why would he? Like, 145 coming up and 155 and so on and so forth, whatever—but now he seems more open to the fight. I mean, never say never. First things first, I said I got Ilia. He is my full focus.”