Holloway Open To Staying at Welterweight After McGregor Fight

Max Holloway has spent the last year testing himself at new weights. He is not finished yet.

The former UFC featherweight champion makes his welterweight debut against Conor McGregor in the UFC 329 main event on July 11 at T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas, and when asked whether 170 pounds could become a permanent home, his answer was characteristically open-ended.

"Never say never. I'm not a guy that wants to jump to conclusions. We'll do what we do and we're going to figure it out after that,” Holloway

Holloway spent three of his last four fights at lightweight, defending his BMF title against Dustin Poirier at UFC 318 before losing it to Charles Oliveira at UFC 326 in March. The Oliveira defeat sent him back to the drawing board. What the UFC handed him instead was McGregor (22-6) — a five-round welterweight headliner against the sport's most commercially significant name, in what amounts to a rematch of their August 2013 fight at featherweight, which McGregor won by unanimous decision.

Holloway is aware that the winner of this fight could find themselves pointing in multiple directions. The lightweight title picture, the welterweight contender conversation, a potential meeting with Islam Makhachev — all of it has been discussed publicly in the lead-up to July 11, and Holloway is not dismissing any of it.

"I have history with the champion at 155. A lot of people are talking that even though this fight is at 170, that the winner of our fight could go down and fight at '55. I see a lot of people talking about the winner of this could even go and jump to see Islam. At the end of the day, I don't know what's going on. We'll see. The UFC loves throwing curveballs. They love doing wild stuff. If you told me with my last fight I would be here fighting Conor McGregor in my next one, I would tell you you're lying. So we're here now, and life is good,” Holloway

He says the preparation has addressed the size concern directly. His wife has been cooking to help him build to the weight, striking coach Ivan Flores is with him for fight week in Las Vegas, and trainer Tyler Minton is back in the corner.

"I'm going to be a good size 170, I'm going to tell you that much," Holloway

At 34, Holloway is in the back half of his career but showing no signs of limiting his ambitions by weight class or opponent. The McGregor fight is the most high-profile of his career by some measures. Whatever comes after it, he is not planning that far ahead.