Dana White: Max Holloway Needs to Go Up to 155

Back in January, Max Holloway issued a harbinger about the future on “The MMA Hour” that was an eerie premonition about what was to come in 2018:

“Medically, if they change a couple of things around, I’m probably not going to be able for 145 pounds. If it happens, it happens. Medically, if the UFC adds more rules, I’ll most definitely have to step up, but right now, they didn’t. I’m a 45-er. If they start passing more medical stuff, I probably won’t (be able to make 145). I’ve never missed weight in my life, so I don’t know why they’re giving me a hard time. But if they pass more rules, I probably won’t be medically able to pass it. 155 might come sooner rather than later. We’ll see what happens.”

Since uttering this quote, Max Holloway has failed to make the scales twice, once at lightweight for a short-notice bout against Khabib Nurmagomedov at UFC 223, and more recently against Brian Ortega at UFC 226. One man who of course who has kept a vigilant eye on Holloway and his weight struggles UFC President Dana White, who has a solution in mind that he has expressed to the featherweight champion:

“I didn’t want him to fight again at ’45,” Dana White told MMAjunkie about Holloway. “He wanted this fight so bad. He got cleared by every test and doctor and everything we’ve done…came in light this week, so we’ll see what happens. Yeah, it would be really bad if he didn’t make weight.

“I think he needs to go to ’55. He’s too big for this weight. You can’t keep doing this to yourself and keep cutting down to ’45.”

There is only one reason why Max Holloway did not heed his advice, White claims, and it’s the other half of the UFC 231 main event:

“But you know what he wanted? He wants this Ortega fight. He wants to fight Ortega so bad. So this is the fight he wanted; he got it. He medically got cleared, and he got what he wanted.”