Max Holloway believes a future fight with Khabib Nurmagomedov is still possible

Max Holloway was set to take on Khabib Nurmagomedov at UFC 223, this after Tony Ferguson had to withdraw last minute due to an injury. There, the featherweight champion would have been moving up in weight to make his UFC lightweight debut. However, the fight did not come to fruition as the commission stopped the Hawaiian from cutting weight.

Since then, Max Holloway went back down to featherweight and defended his title against Brian Ortega at UFC 231. He then got another chance to fight at lightweight at UFC 236 when he took on Dustin Poirier for the promotions interim lightweight title. Had Holloway emerged victorious, he would have once again been in line for a fight with Nurmagomedov. But, the featherweight king lost the bout and is now headed back to 145-pounds for a fight with Frankie Edgar.

With that said, ‘Blessed’ still believes a future fight with ‘The Eagle’ is still possible.

“The Khabib fight is still there,” Holloway said to ESPN. “I think the Khabib fight is still there. The fans still want the Khabib fight which is very interesting. The Irishman fight, if he ever figures it out, that fight is still there. There’s a lot of interesting things to do. 155 is not that far, it isn’t that far.

“In April I told you guys, I was saying it over, go look at the old interviews, that I was going to come back to 145 no matter what happened,” Holloway said. “We’re here now and I wanted to come back to 145 in the summer and that’s the plan. I ain’t got nothing but time, we only turned 28, people keep forgetting. I have been around for a long time, you guys saw me grow up in this game.”

Currently, Max Holloway is set to defend his featherweight title at UFC 240 on July 27 against Frankie Edgar. Khabib Nurmagomedov, meanwhile, is set to defend his lightweight title against Dustin Poirier at UFC 242 in September.

Following Holloway’s title fight against Edgar, he is not ruling out a return to lightweight.

Do you think we will ever see Max Holloway vs. Khabib Nurmagomedov? Sound off in the comment section, PENN Nation!

This article first appeared on BJPENN.COM on 7/16/2019.