Max Holloway Promises To Defend Featherweight Title

Max Holloway will jump up to 155 pounds and attempt to capture his second divisional title.

However, he has no intentions of leaving his responsibilities as champion behind. Speaking at the UFC 236 pre-fight press conference, Holloway said he’d like to drop back down to 145 pounds this summer to defend his title again (via MMAjunkie):

“After that (Brian) Ortega fight I had to take some time personally and some business stuff, then they came to me with this fight in April,” Holloway said.

“Can’t let it slip through your fingers. At the end of the day, first things first, I got Dustin Poirier, and we’ll talk to the UFC after that. I don’t think Frankie (Edgar) or Jose (Aldo) deserve a champ that’s not willing to defend for a year. After this one I could go back down in the summer. That would be fun. But first thing’s first, April 13.”

Holloway will face Dustin Poirier in the main event of UFC 236 on pay-per-view (PPV). The show goes down from the State Farm Arena in Atlanta, Georgia on April 13, 2019. “”Blessed” has successfully defended his title twice since initially dethroning Jose Aldo in 2017. Now, he’ll face Poirier, the No. 3-ranked lightweight in the UFC, who is on a four-fight sin streak.

UFC 236 is co-main evented by an interim middleweight title bout between Israel Adesanya and Kelvin Gastelum.