A freak injury to Charles Oliveira gave Waianae’s Max Holloway his seventh consecutive victory at 145 pounds in the main event of a UFC Fight Night event in Saskatoon, Saskatchewan, Canada.
Oliveira shot in for a takedown near the fence and Holloway scrambled back to his feet. He beckoned for Oliveira to stand back up and Oliveira obliged. Once Oliveira got to his feet he grabbed his left shoulder and immediately backed up against the cage in pain. Holloway charged in to finish before referee Herb Dean stepped in to stop the bout at 1 minutes, 39 seconds.
The 23-year-old Holloway improved to 14-3 overall and 10-3 in the UFC with his second consecutive win over a top-10 fighter. Oliveira, who dropped to 20-5 overall and 7-5 in the UFC, entered the fight ranked seventh in the featherweight division.
"Everybody send your prayers to Charles. It’s a part of the game and it’s kind of sad to see that happen," Holloway said in his postfight interview.
The injury brought a sudden end to Holloway’s first main event fight in the UFC scheduled for five, five-minute rounds.
Holloway was a 2:1 favorite and started the fight working at a fast pace. Oliveira had a 5-inch reach advantage.
When the fight was over, Holloway was asked about what he wanted next. With interim champion Conor McGregor unifying the titles against longtime titleholder Jose Aldo in December, Holloway called out the next-best guy in the division.
"Why not go for UFC Hawaii, Frank Edgar vs. Max Holloway, Aloha Stadium. Let’s do this."
Edgar is ranked No. 2 in the division and has a history with Hawaii. Edgar ended B.J. Penn’s run as UFC lightweight champion and then beat him two more times, including in his final bout last summer.
This isn’t the first time Holloway has asked to headline a UFC event in Hawaii, but the company has been hesitant to follow through.
Part of the problem has been finding a venue appropriate for a UFC event. Aloha Stadium is the only place big enough to make the venture worthwhile for the UFC, but it’s outdoors, which is a major concern.
K-1 held a kickboxing and mixed martial arts event there in July of 2005 that drew 12,000 people with Penn as the headliner.
X-1 did a show there in September of last year that drew 1,000 people with Niko Vitale fighting in the main event.
