EXCLUSIVE
Max Holloway is being showered with praise for his UFC 300 KO.
The former featherweight champion earned a $600,000 bonus as he stole the show by brutally stopping Justin Gaethje in the final second of their BMF title fight on Saturday night.
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Commentator Joe Rogan, who himself held back tears before the momentous event, immediately hailed Holloway’s finish as the best in UFC history and started a debate among fans about the greatest KOs of all time.
As that conversation rages on, talkSPORT’s Adam Catterall, who watched the fight live in Las Vegas, talked up Holloway for producing the ‘greatest’ UFC moment of all time.
During a conversation with former PFL champion Brendan Loughnane on talkSPORT MMA’s Uncaged podcast, the combat sports reporter heaped praise on ‘Blessed’.
“The big story is Max Holloway, let’s not mess about,” Catterall began.
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“Boy, did Max deliver. It wasn’t necessarily about the last 15 seconds, it was a clinic from start to finish.
“But we’ll start at the back of the fight, is it the greatest moment in UFC history?”
Loughnane, who is days away from a fight with Pedro Carvalho at PFL 3, lost his mind when he saw Holloway send Gaethje crashing face-first to the floor.
He said: “I was in some random pub in Chicago running around like a lunatic.
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“You should have seen me doing circles around the pool table, it was one of those moments, wasn’t it?
“The whole place was going mad, I can’t imagine what it was like to be there.
Footage reveals Joe Rogan's hilarious reaction to Max Holloway knocking out Justin Gaethje at UFC 300
“So, it definitely ranked up there. I’m trying to think of a better moment, and I can’t after watching the sport for my whole life.”
Catterall highlighted Conor McGregor’s win over Jose Aldo and Leon Edwards KO’ing Kamaru Usman as potential alternatives before explaining why Holloway’s win is different.
He added: “Max Holloway was stepping up in weight to take on the BMF, Justin Gaethje, who is in a bit of a purple patch right now.
“He’s flying, just knocked out Dustin Poirier and beaten Rafael Fiziev in good fashion. Number one contender at lightweight, he’s going to be fighting Islam Makhchev.
“Everyone thought ‘The Highlight’ was going to deliver a highlight.”
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Loughnane hasn’t always been a fan of the BMF belt but says the final seconds of Holloway vs Gaethje helped him realise why it is such a great addition to the sport.
The Manchester man loves the fact it allows fighters like Holloway to shine.
"It's not Holloway’s first rodeo,” Loughnane said.
“I’ve seen him do it against [Riccardo] Lamas and a few other people. It’s something in that Hawaiian warrior spirit where he’s just like, ‘I’m going to give you a chance to level this up’.
“Do you think he cared he was up three rounds? He didn’t care. Do you think he cared how much money was on the line? He didn’t care.
“All he cared about was that moment right there in the last 10 seconds, ‘Let’s get the crowd going and if I lose, I lose.’
“That embodies what the BMF really is. That’s what that title was made for, for moments like that, for special fighters like him.”
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Holloway is open to defending his newly acquired title in a rematch with McGregor but accepts he’ll most likely return against featherweight champion Ilia Topuria later this year.
Whoever he fights next, you can be sure Catterall, Loughnane and a bunch of new fans will be tuning in hoping he’ll create another iconic UFC moment.