Max Holloway won with a KO in the fifth round of his UFC 300 clash against Justin Gaethje. Moving up to lightweight since his disastrous bout against Dustin Poirier in 2019 (whom Gaethje knocked out last year), ‘Blessed’ was the clear underdog going into the bout.
But, what happened next was described by UFC CEO Dana White as “the ultimate holy-sh** moment of all time… One second left and a knockout like that. That’s like movie sh**” and earned the former featherweight champion two $300,000 bonuses as well as the love and respect of all UFC fans and even some celebrities.
Travis Barker awestruck by Max Hollway’s UFC 300 performance
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Towards the end of his UFC 300 clash against Justin Gaethje, already up four rounds to none, ‘Blessed’ would point to the center of the octagon, issuing a clear challenge to ‘The Human Highlight’ to stand and bang with him.
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Gaethje, among the hardest punchers in lightweight history, obliged and the two started trading wild haymakers. Holloway managed to catch ‘The Human Highlight’ with a solid right to his opponent’s chin and knocked him out cold with barely a second to spare.
This spectacular victory would win him not only the BMF title but $600,000 in Performance and Fight of the Night bonuses. And Holloway posted the video of the finish on his official Instagram account to the delight of fans, including musician Travis Barker, who took to the comments section of the post and wrote “You are different my brother.” And Holloway has the chance to further cement his legacy as the greatest if he can prevail in his upcoming bout against the newly-minted UFC featherweight champion of the world.
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Ilia Topuria next for Max Holloway
Max Holloway called out featherweight champion Ilia Topuria and even lightweight champion Islam Makhachev after his UFC 300 victory. However, with Makhachev scheduled to fight Dustin Poirier on June 1, followed by a title clash against Arman Tsarukyan, a Holloway vs. Makhachev bout is unlikely to materialize anytime soon.
Plus, Topuria has already accepted the call-out from Holloway, and even took to Twitter, congratulating the former featherweight champion on his victory and promising to knock out ‘Blessed’ for the first time in his MMA career, and even citing a bible verse that talks about getting strength to do “all things” from Christ.
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“Congrats on your performance Max. Respect your story and everything you achieved with a beautiful family . Hopefully we gonna share the octagon before the end of the year and trust me you gonna feel something that you never felt before . I will be the first one to take your lights out. Philippians 4:13,” ‘El Matador’ tweeted.
‘Blessed’ responded swiftly in much more amicable terms, and cited his own Bible verse. “”It’s all love champ. I’ll be seeing you soon. Jeremiah 51:20,” Holloway wrote. Who do you think will win in their bout?