Max Holloway issues statement on UFC 236 loss to Dustin Poirier

In the main event of UFC 236, UFC featherweight champion Max Holloway climbed up to the 155-pound lightweight division to battle streaking contender Dustin Poirier for interim gold, bravely putting his 13-fight win-streak on the line in the process.

Unfortunately for Holloway and his ever-growing army of followers, this move up to lightweight didn’t go as he planned. While he put forth a commendable effort, winning several rounds with his vintage, volume-based striking attack, he ultimately lost a decision to his bigger, stronger foe.

After this thrilling, five-round war, Max Holloway was transported directly to the hospital under the orders of UFC President Dana White.

“We took him straight from the Octagon to the hospital,” White said at the post-fight press conference. “I told my guys, ‘I don’t want him doing any interviews. Take him straight to the hospital.’ He’s tough, he’s awesome, but I’d like to see him at 145 pounds again. Poirier looked much bigger than him in my opinion.”

Given his abrupt trip to the hospital, Holloway didn’t have much time to open up on this tough loss to Poirier. Speaking on Twitter early on Sunday afternoon, however, he did just that, congratulating Poirier and his wife Jolie.

See what he had to say below:

“Life is chutes and ladders. Sometimes we gotta take that slide down to get to the next big ladder. It is what it is. We keep playing. We keep fighting. Congrats to Dustin and Jolie. They should’ve already had a belt. Diamonds are forever” – Max Holloway on Twitter.

With this tough UFC 236 loss, the expectation is that Holloway will head back down to the featherweight division to defend his title, perhaps against the winner of Alex Volkanovski and Jose Aldo’s UFC 237 showdown.

This article first appeared on BJPENN.COM on 4/14/2019.