Max Holloway is coming off the first knockout loss of his career, but one UFC legend doesn’t feel “Blessed” will let it bother him.
Holloway is set to take on Dustin Poirier for the third and final time on Saturday. Poirier is set to retire once his main event fight at UFC 318 has concluded. “The Diamond” already has two victories over Holloway.
Going into fight night, one of the color commentators for UFC 318 chimed in on Holloway’s mental state coming off a knockout defeat.
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Max Holloway’s KO Loss Won’t Deter Him, Says Daniel Cormier
Many fighters don’t react too well in the aftermath of their first knockout loss. Daniel Cormier told MMAJunkie.com that he doesn’t think Max Holloway will fall victim to that.
“If he’s anything like the last time we saw him at 155, he’s one of the best in the world,” Cormier said of Holloway. “The first time he fought he was like, ‘I have a spare tire, I was gaining weight just to fight.’ When we saw him against Justin he had not looked like that same guy. He had looked like a 155 pounder.
“Now his diet matches everything he needs in order to become a world champ. Because that’s exactly what his eyes are set on. He’s not thinking, ‘Just go win this fight.’ You hear the stuff he’s saying about Ilia. That loss did not deter him. He still wants to get back in there with Topuria and try to make that right.”
Holloway is an elite fighter who has never been shy to swing leather. He likely won’t be tentative against Dustin Poirier on Saturday given his track record. We recently saw Alexander Volkanovski rebound nicely after suffering a KO to Topuria, and “The Great” had to rebound from back-to-back knockout losses.
