Holloway gets a long-awaited shot to unify title

Max Holloway’s career will continue after Saturday, barring a tragedy.

As for the long, winding road to the top he’s been on since losing to Conor McGregor four years ago?

That’s finally coming to an end.

After 10 consecutive victories, including an interim championship belt, Waianae’s Holloway can stand alone as the unified, undisputed, no-doubt best 145-pound fighter in the UFC with a win over longtime division kingpin Jose Aldo in the main event of UFC 212 on Saturday night in Rio de Janeiro.

It took a nine-fight winning streak, the longest of any UFC fighter not to receive a title shot, just to get an interim title fight with Anthony Pettis last December. Only then, after a decisive one-sided TKO victory, has Holloway finally earned his long-awaited shot at Aldo, who has won 16 of his past 17 fights at 145 pounds, with the one defeat coming in 13 seconds to McGregor.

“I respect the guy. He’s the greatest to do it,” Holloway said of Aldo on a media conference call last week. “Like I’ve said before, since I was 17 (years old) I watched this guy. I’m 25 and he’s still at the top of the division.

“It’s the end of an era. The timing is now and I just look forward to it.”

Holloway joined B.J. Penn as the only UFC champions from Hawaii with the win over Pettis.

Saturday’s fight will mark the eighth time two champions in the same class fight to unify a title, with the interim titleholder holding a 4-3 advantage.

Aldo was awarded an interim belt with a win over Frankie Edgar at UFC 200 and was given the real title when McGregor vacated his to move up in weight.

That set the stage for Holloway to fight Aldo for the belt at the end of last year, but that fight was scrapped — Holloway claims Aldo was ducking him.

“He can really say whatever he wants,” Aldo said last week. “The circumstances around everything that happened when booking our fight was totally different.

“(Holloway is) really nothing new to me. I’ve fought many guys before, even in the (World Extreme Cagefighting) days, that have similar characteristics (to) him. He’s not anything that surprises me.”

Holloway has turned himself into a complete fighter since making his UFC debut at age 20, when he was forced to tap out by Dustin Poirier.

He’s won six fights by knockout or TKO and two others by submission. He’s also scored dominant decision wins in 15-minute fights against Ricardo Lamas and Jeremy Stephens.

It’s been years since Holloway has seriously been tested inside the cage going back to the McGregor loss and a third-round submission win over Andre Fili, and he hasn’t shied away from letting people know just how dominant he’s been.

“This is confidence, not cockiness,” Holloway said. “Everybody keeps saying this kid is cocky. No. Just because you don’t believe in yourself, don’t try to bring your negative energy around me. You keep your negative self away from me and I’m going to keep my positive self around my circle. I know I’m the greatest.”

During a press conference in Brazil last month to promote the fight, Holloway brought a soccer ball to give to Aldo as a retirement present.

Aldo has said multiple times he’d like to play soccer when his fighting days are done.

The 30-year-old Brazilian has carried the 145-pound division since its beginning in the UFC.

The UFC didn’t put on featherweight fights until 2010, when it merged with the WEC, which the UFC bought in 2006.

The UFC, which up until then only held fights from 155 pounds and up, used the WEC to hold bouts in the lower weight classes. Aldo dominated the competition, winning seven of eight fights by TKO or KO. Only Urijah Faber went the distance against Aldo.

When the UFC recognized the featherweights in 2011, Aldo beat Mark Hominick to crown himself the inaugural champion and piled up six more wins against the likes of Frankie Edgar, Chad Mendes, Kenny Florian and Ricardo Lamas before the loss to McGregor.

A loss to Holloway would mean the end of Aldo’s long reign at the top, with Holloway, unlike McGregor, planning to stay in the division for the foreseeable future.

“It could be (the end),” Holloway said. “We’re about to find out when we make that walk. Everything is going to be cleared after June 3. I’m getting ready for the best Jose Aldo and I hope he’s ready for the best version of me. The questions are almost done and we’re going to find out.”