What does being BMF champion mean to Max Holloway?
“The BMF belt, to me, personally represents just a bad motherf*cker, you know – blessed man forever,” Holloway said in a video posted Friday on his YouTube channel. “Only very few get to fight for this belt. The belt was a laughingstock before. All of a sudden I got it, (and) everyone wants to fight for it now. It’s hilarious. It’s fun to me.
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“Title, no title, I carry myself as a BMF in whatever fight it may be. At the end of the day, having this title, getting this, headlining pay-per-view cards, it’s awesome. I’m loving it.”
Holloway’s next challenge will come in a numbered event headliner when he puts his BMF title on the line against former lightweight champion Charles Oliveira at UFC 326 on March 7 from T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas (Paramount+). The fight is a rematch from much earlier in their careers, when Holloway (27-8 MMA, 23-8 UFC) defeated Oliveira (36-11 MMA, 24-11 UFC) by injury TKO in August 2015. The fight was called off after Oliveira suffered an awkward neck injury just 1:39 into the first round.
Holloway, a former UFC featherweight champion, claimed the BMF title with his iconic knockout of Justin Gaethje in April 2024 at UFC 300. Holloway followed up that win by suffering the first knockout loss of his career against then-featherweight champ Ilia Topuria six months later at UFC 308.
Naturally that loss took away some of the BMF shine from Holloway, but he restored his status when he became the first of the three BMF title holders since its inception in 2019 to defend the belt with a hard-fought unanimous decision of Dustin Poirier last July at UFC 318.
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While that achievement is something Holloway takes pride in, he won’t stop at simply being BMF champ. He’s focused on becoming undisputed UFC lightweight champ and believes a win over Oliveira is a big step in that direction.
“Being the only guy to defend the BMF belt, it’s cool and all, but it’s just another record,” Holloway said. “At the end of the day, I can’t sit here, relax and smell the roses. We’ve got to keep going, we’ve got to keep trucking so I can be the only man to defend it twice. I’ve got history on my mind. …
“Defending this belt is cool and all, but the end goal is the undisputed title. And I believe Charles Oliveira being a very worthy opponent – he was the last one to fight for a title, he was an undisputed title holder at one point. With a win over Dustin, with a win over him, if I can go out there and do a BMF moment again and get my hand raised, maybe we get me one step closer to the undisputed title.”
This article originally appeared on MMA Junkie: Max Holloway: BMF belt ‘was a laughingstock’ before me
