Dana White Sounds Off On UFC 231’s Featherweight War

Max Holloway and Brian Ortega put on an amazing featherweight war (full highlights) in the main event of last night’s (Sat., December 8, 2018) UFC 231 from Scotiabank Arena in Toronto, Ontario, Canada.

“Blessed” stopped Ortega following a four-round clinic of precise, peerless striking to bloody ‘T-City.’

The cageside doctors had seen enough as a result. The bout was called and Holloway had secured an amazing 13 wins in a row. The streak tied him with such UFC legends as Demetrious Johnson, Jon Jones, and even GSP. 

But it wasn’t just the win that has the fight game buzzing about Holloway. He showed an insane pace, volume, and cardio against arguably his toughest challenger ever. Perhaps what’s more, he had the heart of the greats when Ortega turned the fight around in the third round with some insane shots. Somehow he persevered to pour on an almost hard-to-watch onslaught in the fourth after calling his shot. 

Already An All-Time Great?

Holloway deservedly banked a 0K double bonus for his effort, and he’s also earned the respect and praise of UFC President Dana White. Gushing about Holloway’s performance on the FOX Sports 1 post-fight show, White said Holloway was among the all-time greats after fighting through deep waters in Canada:

“It’s time to start talking about him as one of the greatest ever. Unbelievable fight. You know, the fight was so back-and-forth. First of all, Ortega has the greatest chin I’ve ever seen in my life. And every time he started getting blasted with shots, you thought it was over, then he’d come back. Holloway would come back, and then Holloway said in that fourth round before he walked out, ‘I’m gonna finish him right here.’ And went out and essentially did finish him that round.”

However, even though Holloway looked incredible after coming back from three pullouts in 2018, White thinks it’s time to move up. The UFC’s front man thinks there are just too many great match-ups for ‘Blessed’ at lightweight. Plus, he won’t have to go through anymore draining cuts:

“Listen, he looked so good tonight, you know? But I think there’s a lot more opportunity for him at 155. There’s a lot of great fights that we can make for him at ’55. He doesn’t have to go through dangerous weight cuts. Yeah, I would like to see him go to ’55.”