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The UFC record-holder for strikes landed, Max Holloway always lets his fists fly.
But when it’s words that start flying out of his mouth, that’s when his opponent should be scared the most.
The former UFC featherweight champion returns to the cage following a 10-month absence to fight No. 3-ranked Yair Rodriguez in the main event of Saturday’s UFC Fight Night at the APEX Center in Las Vegas.
It’s Holloway’s third fight since December 2019 when he lost the 145-pound title to Alexander Volkanovski in a razor-thin unanimous decision loss.
Holloway (22-6, 18-6 UFC) lost the subsequent rematch that was an even closer split decision before bouncing back with a 25-minute highlight reel performance in a unanimous decision over Calvin Kattar.
When he wasn’t busy throwing one of his UFC-record 746 attempted strikes, of which a record 447 landed, Holloway was having conversations with not only his opponent, but ringside commentator Daniel Cormier.
At one point, Holloway was staring at Cormier as he landed a no-look right hand to Kattar’s face.
“I mean it had to be that fight,” Holloway said Tuesday of the most fun he’s had in a UFC fight. “All the ones that I’m chirping. That’s when you know.”
Holloway did the same against Brian Ortega, telling commentator Joe Rogan after the third round that he was going to finish the fight in the fourth.
He did exactly that earning a fourth-round TKO after landing 307 strikes.
If he gets to that point against Rodriguez (13-2-1, 8-1-1), chances are you will hear him on the broadcast.
The fight is taking place at the UFC’s APEX Center, a production facility that can house live events.
It was home to a number of UFC cards without fans during the pandemic. A limited number of fans and select VIPs are able to attend the fight, but it still won’t be like the capacity crowds in larger arenas Holloway has grown accustomed to over his 24 career UFC fights.
None of that concerns the former champ, who had to push back the fight with Rodriguez from the summer until now due to injury.
It’s his second-longest layoff since making his UFC debut when he was 20 in 2012.
“I’m a guy who usually tries to fight three times, maybe pushing that fourth time, a year and being here only having my second fight of the year, things happen, but we are at where we at now,” Holloway said.
Holloway remains ranked as the No. 1 challenger to Volkanovski’s title and a trilogy fight next is surely a possibility with a win over Rodriguez.
There are also big-money fights out there as well. A second Conor McGregor fight has been hinted at for years and the two continue to go back-and-forth on Twitter.
The Rodriguez fight is somewhat of a risk for Holloway, but as he put it, he doesn’t want to be what he calls an “elevator diva.”
“There are a lot of people at the elevator wanting to just shoot to the top, and for this fight I sat down with my team and we all decided not to be an elevator diva like all these other guys,” Holloway said. “This sure ain’t the last time I’m going to have to do something like this. Only way to get back (to the top) is fighting.”
Rodriguez, who owns a knockout victory over B.J. Penn, has won his last two fights, but hasn’t fought since October 2019.
His only loss in the UFC is to Frankie Edgar, who Holloway has defeated by unanimous decision.
“I think in any fight it takes two to tangle, and things happen in a fight and he comes forward and throws a lot of weird and spinning stuff,” Holloway said. “At the end of the day I’m approaching it like this guy is the best in the world.”
The fight will be broadcast on ESPN+ with the main card beginning at 11 a.m. Hawaii time.
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