KANSAS CITY, Mo. – Max Holloway has his eyes on the belt, but also on a specific name in the featherweight division.
That name is fellow veteran Chang Sung Jung. “The Korean Zombie” is one of the very few names at the top of the weight class that Holloway (24-7 MMA, 20-7 UFC) has yet to fight.
Now fresh off a unanimous decision win over Arnold Allen in the main event of Saturday’s UFC on ESPN 44, Holloway believes that’s a fight that could make sense for him next.
“Korean Zombie, that’s the only guy of my time, with the older guys, that I didn’t get to fight,” Holloway told reporters at the UFC on ESPN 44 post-fight press conference. “I would love that fight. There’s a fight in my agents’ country, Australia. Australia is supposed to be happening sometime, we don’t know when, and if Korean Zombie wants it he can get it. I would love to fight him. That’s one of the guys I grew up watching.
“I’m kind of tripping on how we didn’t fight yet. How did we not fight? If that’s one of the guys, that’s one of the guys. I would love to share the octagon with him. He’s one of the OGs that I didn’t get to fight, and we came up in the same era, and we didn’t fight each other.”
Holloway’s win over Allen (19-2 MMA, 10-1 UFC) was the first fight since losing a third time to champion Alexander Volkanovski back in July 2022.
Holloway still has aspirations of winning back the UFC featherweight title. And despite being 0-3 against the champion, Holloway is not stressing about his road back to the title and won’t wish Volkanovski a loss in his upcoming title unification bout against Yair Rodriguez at UFC 290 on July 8.
“We’ll see what happens,” Holloway said. “Let the best man win. I get to be a fan in that fight in July, and we’ll see what happens. Never say never. We’ll be alright.”
For more on the card, visit MMA Junkie’s event hub for UFC on ESPN 44.
