We had to check our calendars just to make sure it wasn’t April 1st.
Hands up how many of you forgot that Max Holloway was technically a UFC champion? There’s no shame in that information slipping your mind. The Hawaiian probably deserves a belt after racking up a ridiculous 10-straight victories under the UFC banner. However, it’s hard to forget the circumstances in which he claimed that coveted golden strap.
‘Blessed’ was involved in a title fight in which only he could could emerge with the interim featherweight championship wrapped around his waist. Anthony Pettis missing weight meant that he was ruled out of the running, but Holloway left no doubt by finishing Showtime in UFC 206’s main event.
There’s also the fact that Jose Aldo was an active undisputed champion at the time. After beating Frankie Edgar at UFC 200 for the interim belt, Conor McGregor relinquished his 145 lb title to keep his shiny new lightweight one and Aldo was promoted.
The good news is that pesky interim title will soon be out of the picture once the two warriors engage in their title unification bout at UFC 212. Touch wood, the division will be a little less messy, and the route to the title shot will have a lot less obstacles blocking the path.
Keep it up, lads https://t.co/GaHQV2bHfD
— SportsJOE (@SportsJOEdotie) April 22, 2017
It’s an intriguing main event. Especially considering how unstoppable Holloway has looked of late while Aldo had one of his best performances in years in his last trip to the Octagon.
The co-main event, a strawweight title eliminator between Claudia Gadelha and Karolina Kowalkiewicz is also fantastic. Both fighters gave undefeated champion Joanna Jedrzejczyk her toughest tests inside the Octagon.
Not that the official poster promoting the event would reel in any casual fans to watch the great card. Just after we were praising the promotion for finally solving their poster problems, they drop this pile of horse manure.
For fuck sake, Holloway’s upside down the co-main eventers look like cut-out drinks coasters!
That remarkably good run has come to a screeching halt. Back to normality it is then.
