Unlike previous 155-pound fight, Max Holloway loves putting on weight 'the right way' for UFC 300

Former UFC featherweight champion Max Holloway is a lot more confident about his second attempt at lightweight.

Holloway (25-7 MMA, 21-7 UFC) challenges Justin Gaethje (25-4 MMA, 8-4 UFC) for the BMF title on April 13 at UFC 300 from T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas. Holloway fell short in his first octagon lightweight bout when he was outlasted by Dustin Poirier in their interim title fight in April 2019. Holloway has since moved back down to 145 pounds but will take another crack at lightweight when he faces Gaethje. However, this time Holloway put on muscle for the transition.

“There’s no real challenge of putting on weight,” Holloway said on his YouTube channel. “It is putting on proper weight is the challenge. I mean, it can be difficult, but I feel like we’ve done a great job at it. I’m eating good. Strength and conditioning is a big part of it. We’re lifting good.

“We’re making the right moves that need to be made. Anybody can get big. I got big for my last ’55 fight, not really the proper way, so this way we get to run it back, put in the right way, putting on healthy weight, and I think it’s showing. I can’t wait for everybody to see come April 13.”

Holloway has never missed weight at featherweight, but it’s visibly a tough cut for him. He’s enjoying the perks of having the extra 10 pounds.

“Everybody keeps talking about the ’55. Everybody keeps asking me how I feel,” Holloway said. “Obviously (at) ’55, I get to eat. I get to eat, eat and eat some more. So, I’m loving it. I can feel eating and recovering going way better in this camp just because I don’t have to be too much on a diet and lose a certain amount of pounds. We’re still losing weight to get to ’55 because we did gain weight, but being able to eat more, eat a lot more, is always awesome.”

For more on the card, visit MMA Junkie’s event hub for UFC 300.