The list of those wishing to try to take the championship belt from Khabib Nurmagomedov continues to grow steadily. MMA stars such as Tony Ferguson, Conor McGregor, Georges Saint-Pierre and Justin Gatgy are already in it. And the other day, the readiness to claim a fight with a Russian athlete was announced by the current champion in the featherweight category Max Holloway. And, despite a number of nuances, this application still deserves serious attention.
Recall that such a stir about the fight with Habib began a little more than a month ago, after he prematurely defeated Dustin Porrier at the tournament in Abu Dhabi and held the second defense of the UFC lightweight title. From that moment, many athletes hastened to challenge the Russian. Nevertheless, the name of his next opponent is still unknown.
And then Max Holloway, once again expressing respect to Nurmagomedov, also admitted that he hopes to measure his strength with the Russian in the near future. According to him, he has been waiting for this opportunity for a long time and is already looking forward to the battle with the second fighter in the world, regardless of the weight categories (Pound-for-Pound).
True, one of the nuances is that if such a fight takes place, then not earlier than at least next year. In December, Holloway will hold his next featherweight title defense against Alexander Volkanovsky. The Hawaiian won the title in a fight with Jose Aldo in 2017, after which he defended it three times. First, he defeated the Brazilian for the second consecutive defeat, and then he alternately sorted out Brian Ortega and Frankie Edgar.
Thus, given the fight at the UFC 245 tournament, Holloway is unlikely to be able to enter the octagon before the spring of 2020, which in no way puts an end to his prospects of fighting Nurmagomedov. Some time ago it became known that the Russian’s return to the cage is planned for March - April, which perfectly matches the schedule of the Hawaiian. On average, the interval between two fights for MMA fighters is from three to four months, as a result of which Max will have enough time to get in shape.
However, not in favor of Holloway says the presence in the champion race of at least one more worthy athlete. Ferguson currently has a winning streak of 12 fights and is considered the most dangerous opponent for Nurmagomedov. UFC President Dana White spoke about this, calling Tony the main candidate for a meeting with Habib. True, the functionary noted that the American would have to agree to the conditions of the Russian citizen and accept the call at that time and in the place that Oryol would call.
It is worth noting that Ferguson was never famous for his complaisant character and often clashed with both rivals and the leadership of the promotion. He may well refuse the conditions proposed by his opponent and again miss the chance to become a champion. This is exactly what happened in April of this year, when Tony did not agree to fight for a time zone with the same Holloway and lost the chance to beat Nurmagomedov in the fall. As a result, Porrier got this right.
The situation is only aggravated by the fact that Ferguson has already managed to challenge Nurmagomedov to a duel in the aforementioned UFC 245 tournament, but was refused. After the fight in Abu Dhabi, the Russian repeatedly announced his intention to return to the cage before the end of the year, but subsequently decided to postpone it. It is possible that this could seriously upset Tony and provoke him to rash steps.
This may well be used by Holloway. Unlike Ferguson, he is an extremely non-conflict person, which he has repeatedly proved. In addition, earlier he had already shown interest in a duel with Nurmagomedov and almost came to replace all the same Ferguson.
In April 2018, Tony and Habib had to argue for the absolute lightweight champion title, but a few days before the tournament, the American was injured. Max expressed a desire to accept the battle, but was later forced to abandon this venture. Due to the fact that at that moment the Hawaiian was on vacation and did not follow a diet, for the sake of the battle for the title he needed to go through a fierce weight loss. Doctors considered her too dangerous for health and forbade him to agree to a meeting with Nurmagomedov.
From that moment, Holloway began to treat his body more carefully and in April 2019, he easily fit into the lightweight limit. At the weigh-in, he looked very vigorously and proved that in the future he could easily make the transition to a more prestigious division. At the same time, many believe that it was Max who was supposed to become a rival to Habib at the tournament in Abu Dhabi, because Dustin's victory seemed controversial to many. Yes, in the first two rounds, Porrier interrupted his counterpart, but then he slowed down significantly and was not so productive.
Thus, the chance to face off with Nurmagomedov could become a worthy compensation for Holloeuya for that ambiguous judicial decision. Max has long proved that he is one of the most dangerous drummers in mixed martial arts, but at the same time he has excellent protection against takedowns, which is so necessary in the battle with Habib. The protection of the Hawaiian from transfers to the stalls is 85%, which is much more than Porie had before meeting with the Russian (69%).
But if you choose between Ferguson, McGregor, Saint-Pierre and Holloway, it is the Hawaiian who is the most convenient opponent for Nurmagomedov. Firstly, his duel with Porrier demonstrated that his striking power is clearly not enough for duels with representatives of light weight. If in the featherweight he looks much stronger than his opponents, and each of his blows carries a huge danger, then in the battle with Dustin he looked less formidable.
Secondly, Holloway used to fight with opponents, significantly inferior to him in growth. For a featherweight, a 180-cm athlete is practically a giant, but does not greatly exceed his counterparts in the category above. In addition, Max is significantly inferior to them in muscle mass, which will necessarily manifest itself in the struggle. The sharp transitions between divisions didn’t end well for anyone, because in a short time an athlete is able to gain weight due to anything, but not muscles. At one time, Conor McGregor perfectly demonstrated this, in the first duel with Nate Diaz he looked pretty heavy.
At the same time, one should not be particularly deceived by the percentage of protection against transfers to the land. For seven years in the UFC, Holloway practically did not meet with top fighters. Of course, his record includes fights with Frankie Edgar, Brian Ortega and Charles Oliveira, but the first of them has long relied on boxing, and the other two are experts in jujitsu, which does not imply the ability to get into the legs.
It is enough to recall that at one time Holloway lost to McGregor, who received a leg injury during the bout. The Irishman was deprived of the opportunity to fully move around the octagon and decided to turn to his fighting skills. As a result, Conor made several successful takedowns and kept his counterpart on canvas for a long time. Of course, from that moment, Max solidly added in this aspect, but this is unlikely to be enough to fight Habib on equal terms.
Unlike Ferguson, Holloway has practically nothing to oppose Nurmagomedov to the earth, and in the rack he is not much superior to Tony. The same can be said in the context of his comparison with McGregor, who still remains one of the best masters of shock equipment in MMA and is able to shock the entire sports world with one blow. As for Saint-Pierre, in the best years the Canadian could compete on equal terms with the Russian in the stalls and certainly would be more inventive in the rack, but now it is too difficult to judge his condition.
Thus, it is Holloway who is the most preferred opponent for Nurmagomedov and practically guarantees that he will successfully play in the first fight on his native land. Recently, Habib said that his next fight is likely to take place in Russia, and a confident victory over the champion in a different weight category will be an excellent application for getting on the first line of the Pound-for-Pound rating. Of course, at the moment, John Jones does not give reasons to remove him from this honorable position, but such a resounding success may well make White give the Eagle a small advance.