Max Holloway believes he has more work to do before becoming featherweight GOAT

On Saturday night, in the main event of UFC 240 in Edmonton, Alberta, Canada, UFC featherweight champion Max Holloway successfully defended his title by outpointing former lightweight champion Frankie Edgar.

Speaking post-fight, Holloway explained that this victory over Edgar is important to him because Edgar is just the kind of big-name fighter he’ll need to continue beating if he intends to become an MMA legend himself.

“Frankie is a true warrior,” he told the media (transcript via Sherdog). “He’s the guy who inspired me to be here. Without the guys like Frankie Edgar you would’ve have guys like me. Frankie was the inspiration. Drake said, ‘Train until your idols become your rivals.’ He’s why I’m here. He’s a beast. You can’t take nothing away from Frankie. He’s a legend.

“I’m trying to be the best pound-for-pound fighter in the world, not the best featherweight in the world,” he added. “I’m trying to be the best pound-for-pound fighter and Frankie is one more step towards me completing that goal.”

While many fans already consider Max Holloway the best featherweight fighter in MMA history, he believes he still has a few more records to break before he surpasses the former champion Jose Aldo in that regard.

“I’m just trying to be a legend,” he said. “I’m trying to be the No. 1 pound-for-pound fighter in the world, and that’s the names I got to be up there with, and that’s respect. So like I said, all this GOAT talk and whatever, that doesn’t affect me. When it’s all said and done, I can sit back and relax, and [Jose] Aldo’s still the man. He’s still got the most wins, he’s got the most title defenses and so on. Until I beat those records, then maybe I can be in that conversation.”

Do you consider Max Holloway the featherweight GOAT?

This article first appeared on BJPENN.COM on 7/28/2019.