Max Holloway faces Frankie Edgar in a defense of the UFC's featherweight championship at UFC 240. But this isn't an ordinary main event where a reigning champion comes in to defend his title.
Holloway is coming off a loss to Dustin Poirier in an interim lightweight title bout at UFC 236. What impact will that result have on the mindset of Holloway? Will we see the same, dominant fighter who hasn't lost at featherweight since 2013 when he faced a rising star named Conor McGregor?
This was one topic discussed in this week's Ariel & The Bad Guy episode, streamed exclusively on ESPN+.
Ariel Helwani: Initially when someone is coming off a loss it seems that the luster is off them, right? And when you have a guy, like Max, who had not lost in so many years, yeah, you view them differently in that moment.
But then I sit back and I say OK, these are different stakes. This is back to the old weight class. Let's remember at the last time we saw Max Holloway fight at 145. If you think back to how he looked against Brian Ortega, Chael -- I was there in Toronto, that was the best Max Holloway we've ever seen. And if he goes back to that Max Holloway, at his natural weight of 145, and of course he doesn't have any issues of getting down to 145 this week in Edmonton, I have no issues with this Max. I do not view him differently. I am not concerned. I am not worried about his performance against Frankie Edgar.
Let's just go back to December, Chael, and remember that guy. That guy was on point. That was a phenomenal, dare I say best performance of his career. That guy should not have any trouble this Saturday night.
Chael Sonnen: Come on, Ariel. To say that some luster has left Max? What about the courage that it took for him to move up in weight classes? What about the courage that it took to take on the great Dustin "Diamond" Poirier? In which, I might add, Dustin Poirier had one of the best game plans of all of 2019 in that fight. I thought Max went out there and stood his ground. He fought really hard. Eventually time runs out and you have to look and see who's got more points and that's where the judges come in. Max gained steam for me. I really liked it.
Now, I also like him at 145. I know he struggles to make the weight. I talked to one of his coaches, Tyler Minton, last week, who said that Max is doing things differently, but he has a handle on it. And contrary to popular belief, Ariel -- and I feel like I must bring this up all the time -- Max has never missed weight at 145. That is a misconception because of what happened to him with the Khabib [Nurmagomedov] fight. He never actually missed weight! First off, that was 155 ... as tough as Max has in making 145 pounds, he never misses it. And he is a fantastic fighter. And I think that he needs this.
I have heard a little bit of a dialogue that I strongly disagree with, of what is Frankie Edgar doing in there? How many opportunities is Frankie going to be given? Listen, Helwani, Frankie Edgar is always the right choice. There is never a time in the last four years when Frankie could not fill in as the No. 1 contender. That's my two cents.
Helwani: Well, I had an issue with Frankie being in there initially, that was well publicized, but after what happened to Alex Volkanovski and his scary health issue coming back from his fight in Brazil, I have no issue with this. He's a legend, he deserves another crack, it's a very interesting fight.
I will also say in Holloway's entire UFC run, even before he was champion, he has never produced a boring fight. Especially as of late. The guy is just money every single time. So he's worth the $65 or $59, whatever it is when he's at the top of the bill. And it's very interesting.
But to me, the most interesting part of this entire fight, and I'd love if you could speak on this. Look, and it doesn't matter how I view them, how you view them, all that stuff. It doesn't matter if its a new weight class. I want to know about the psyche. I want to know about the confidence. Max Holloway doesn't strike me as a person who is lacking confidence, but when you are on that kind of a streak and a loss feels like it happened so long ago -- it was against Conor McGrego in 2013 -- you now get that loss back in your system. Is there a part of you, despite the fact that you are the champion, that is doubting yourself a little bit -- your confidence is a little low. That, to me, is the most interesting thing. What kind of Max is going in there? The same swagalicious Max Holloway or one who is sort of questioning?
What do you think?
Sonnen: It's a great talking point Ariel, but a fighter wants to go out and perform well. Listen, getting your hand raised -- that's a really wonderful thing, but this may surprise you. A fighter, an athlete of any kind, just wants to have a good performance.
Do I bring my tools with me? Do I bring my skills? Do I bring the best me to the table? Do I go out there and do I compete? If I do those things, if I listen to my coaches, if I stuck to my guns, if I was in good shape, if I pushed the whole time -- I can live with the result no matter what it is.
I firmly believe that Max fought his heart out against Dustin Poirier. Dustin said that he understood that Max was a rhythm fighter and so all night long he threw off his rhythm, and he did that for 25 straight minutes. But Max stood his ground. He pressured forward. He won some rounds, he did everything he could to win the fight.
I really think that if you're Max and you go in the back and you look at how did I compete, Ariel, I think he's got to be riding a high with confidence. I don't care about who won the fight. That's really how I saw it.