SUMMARY
- Max Holloway is currently #1 featherweight contender.
- Holloway will fight Justin Gaethje at UFC 300 at Lightweight division.
American mixed martial artist Max Holloway is a well-known name in the MMA world. Holloway currently holds the #1 contender place in the featherweight division.
The former featherweight champion is coming off a classic ‘Holloway-fashioned’ win against Arnold Allen. On April 13, 2024, Max aka ‘Blessed’, will face off against the BMF title holder Justin Gaethje in the lightweight division at the headline event, UFC 300.
With Max Holloway going up against Justin Gaethje for the BMF title in April, a past interview featuring him has resurfaced. In this interview, the former featherweight champion sheds light on his humorous motivation for taking on the former interim lightweight champion.
In the interview with ESPN MMA, Max playfully remarked, “Gaethje is funny but… I can say – ‘brother, that one time you almost exposed me to the world on that scale,’ so come on, you’ve got to let me get that back.” Though, the UFC fighter was only kidding about that infamous incident.
To provide context, Holloway had to strip down for the weigh-ins for his fight against Jose Aldo at UFC 218. And Gaethje, who himself volunteered to assist with the towel, intentionally as a prank raised it too much. Hence displaying Holloway’s private parts to the whole world for a few moments.
Nevertheless, this was not the most recent time that Holloway has referred to that incident while talking about Justin Gaethje.
Max Holloway talks about the ‘Towelgate’ incident with Justin Gaethje
In a recent interview with ESPN MMA which aired on January 24, Holloway talked about the incident again. Max said in the interview, “Brother I told him, And he even told me ‘Brother it didn’t look like you wanted to get up the scale so I just threw the towel’.”
Max Holloway will finally get his revenge on Justin Gaethje #UFC300 pic.twitter.com/5q9J9DqOkD
— Fabs (@FTCFabs) January 17, 2024
He went on to say, “I’m not gonna forget that Gaethje. I guess so that’s the whole beef.” He claimed, “That’s the way they (UFC) set this fight.” Holloway then coined the beef as ‘Towelgate’, saying “We can call it a ‘Towelgate’. Gaethje and Holloway’s Towelgate.”
Further talking about the time of the incident, Max said, “He looked at me and said I’m going right over and I was like Yeah, go right over bro.” Then he jokingly said, “Shout out to him. He got me off the scale sooner than later”. The conversation on this topic ended with Holloway saying, “He grabbed that towel bruh!”. After which he laughed it off.
Justin Gaethje talks on how he exposed Max Holloway to the world
Two days after Kevin Iole conducted an Interview with Max Holloway, he hosted Max’s opponent, Justin Gaethje on his YouTube channel. Iole posed some very juicy questions to Gaethje about his upcoming fight against ‘Blessed’. Gaethje seemed to be very respectful of his future opponent as he talked about how he has always been a fan of Holloway right from his own Pro-debut days.
Justin further praised Max saying, “He is a cardio machine.” Then Justin laid out one of the ways by which Holloway could take him down. He said, ”One way that he can beat me is to sustain damage and be able to put pressure and outperform me in rounds 3, 4, and 5, specifically championship rounds.”
Justin went on to label Max as one of the best fighters in the UFC and talked about how he creates angles with his long reach while his experience is second to none. The conversation then diverted to the ‘Towelgate’ incident as Max called it. Gaethje said, “I heard his interview with you… When I had to hold the towel and I exposed him to the world. “
He further added, “And he was right on the money, I mean, we didn’t even have a conversation. Two guys in that situation I mean I know how that feels. The position that he was in. And I thought he cut weight that whole week and he needed to step on that scale”. Justin went on to say, “It was just a funny funny funny thing.” He then smiled and ended the topic on that note.
Holloway recalls past encounter with Poirier in preparation for the BMF title fight at UFC 300
Justin Gaethje will go up against Max Holloway at UFC 300 which is merely a few months away. Both fighters have been going at each other for some time now, albeit in a light-humored fashion. But both fighters and their fanbases will be eager to see two of the most exciting professionals face off in the octagon.
The expectation is for both competitors to showcase a striking masterclass, with the BMF title hanging in the balance. In the same interview as the one in which Holloway coined the beef as ‘Towelgate’, Max addressed his approach to the fight and highlighted the differences from the Poirier bout.
Holloway explained, “I think, me personally, I was just a big ’45er going up to that one. This one, my eating habits, my nutritionist, you know my wife is keeping me in check, doing stuff different, just having the IQ of going out there and feeling what it was. But at first one it’s great so I think so you guys going to see a proper sized person for this one.”
Gaethje enters the fight on the back of two consecutive victories, most notably securing a second-round knockout against Dustin Poirier to claim the UFC’s symbolic ‘Baddest Motherf***er’ title. Meanwhile, Holloway’s recent victory includes a third-round knockout of ‘The Korean Zombie,’ at UFC Singapore last August.
Who do you think will come out on top at UFC 300, Max ‘Blessed’ Holloway or Justin ‘Highlight’ Gaethje? Tell us in the comments below.