Holloway hopes ‘third time’s the charm’ with Edgar, talks moving back to featherweight

HONOLULU, Hawaii (HawaiiNewsNow) - On Saturday, July 27th at UFC 240, Max Holloway is scheduled to defend his featherweight crown against former lightweight champion and perennial contender, Frankie Edgar up in Edmonton, Canada.

For the third time in the last three years, Holloway and Edgar have a bout agreement signed even though neither fighter has shared the Octagon with the other due to injuries from both camps. But this summer, Holloway is confident that things will go according to plan.

“Third time’s the charm, I think,” Holloway said Monday morning at Tactical Strength and Conditioning. “Why not do it, go back to the 10th island? They got great things going on right now with the (Toronto) Raptors and stuff. Gonna use that flow and use that energy. I can’t wait. I’m grateful. I’m finally happy that we get this Frankie fight. He’s a legend.

Since Edgar pulled out of the first schedule bout with an injury back in December 2016, Holloway has defended his belt against Jose Aldo and Brian Ortega. The Waianae native also jumped up to lightweight for a shot at the UFC interim lightweight title against Dustin Poirier, which he lost by unanimous decision.

“Lightweight was great. Lightweight was fun,” Holloway said. “155 was 155. Just like how 170 will be 170, just like how when I make my heavyweight debut, it’s gonna be a heavyweight debut. It is what it is. Weight is weight, I don’t care. I’m a modern day gladiator. Back in the day, gladiators didn’t ask you about your weight. They just showed up to the arena and they fought. That’s what I do every night.”

Holloway added that the plan after the Poirier fight, win or lose, was to have a quick turnaround. The only question that the UFC and he needed to answer was who he was going to fight next.

Edgar was always in the running to fight Holloway, but a new contender emerged recently in Alexander Volkanovski, who defeated Aldo earlier this month in Brazil. Volkanovski called for a title shot next, but didn’t get the answer he was looking for.

However, there seems to be mutual interest between Volkanovski and Holloway to fight in Australia this October, if everything goes according to plan.

“The UFC was holding off for that Alex and Jose fight and I think they wanted to see something more, I don’t know. Maybe they put him in the oven to let him bake a little more for me,” he said. “Look at what I had to do, you know? I had to bake in the oven for a bit. I think they had the temperature on at about 200 (degrees) or something. It is what it is. I can’t wait. If that’s the guy and that’s the date, that's the date. But first things first: We got “The Answer” and I got a bunch of questions so I can’t wait.”

While the Edgar fight may have lost some momentum over the past two years, Holloway is firing up the “Blessed Express” for a chance to take down a future UFC Hall-of-Famer.

“He’s one of those guys at the end of my career, I wanna be like ‘hey, I got to fight him; I got to face him. I got to look at him across the Octagon,’” he said. “I’m excited for the challenge.”

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