MMA promotion adds bonus inspired by Max Holloway's UFC 300 knockout, and it's pretty wild

A Dutch MMA promotion might’ve just figured out a perfect (but also wild) way to incentive maximum violence thanks to former UFC featherweight champion Max Holloway.

Inspired by Holloway’s iconic knockout of Justin Gaethje last Saturday at UFC 300, Levels Fight League of the Netherlands announced Thursday that it has implemented what it’s calling the “Max Point Throwdown” bonus, and it’s exactly what it sounds like.

If combatants in a LFL fight “initiate by pointing to the center of the ring” and then “initiate the exchange, putting it all in the line,” they will be eligible to claim a share of a $5,000 bonus pot.

“We discussed allocating ($5,000) between five fights, so up to $1K a fight if it happens each fight, and we’ll re-assess,” an LFL representative told Jamie Theodosi of Bloody Elbow. “But honestly we will judge on a fight-by-fight basis. If it brings us moments like these, we are happy to reward the fighters with more.”

???????????? ???????????????????? ???????????????????????????????????? ????????????????????

Honouring @BlessedMMA performance at #UFC300, we're introducing a ???????????? bonus to Levels Fight League:

– Fighters initiate by pointing to the centre of the ring
– Fighters initiate the exchange, putting it all on the line pic.twitter.com/CSWDWaCQXD

— Levels Fight League (@LFL_MMA) April 19, 2024

Comfortably up three rounds to one (and about to win the fifth) at UFC 300, Holloway pointed to the center of the octagon as the 10-second clapper sounded and took the risk to engage in a wild brawl before putting Gaethje to sleep with one vicious punch to claim the BMF title.

The all-time badass sequence is why LFL was inspired to do this.

“We were already huge fans of Max Holloway, and after that fight we wanted to do something in his honor,” the LFL rep said. “Sure, he’s UFC, we’re LFL – but this sport is global, and we’re still fans at the end of the day, so why not? No one else is doing it.”

Who knows? Maybe this crazy idea works exactly how LFL is hoping, and we start posting about highlights of insane knockouts happening in their organization.

In the famous words of Dana White, we’ll see how this thing plays out.