Dana White: UFC 231’s Max Holloway too big for featherweight, needs to fight at lightweight

Max Holloway has never missed weight, but his last bout was axed after “Blessed” suffered setbacks during the weight-cutting process to make the Featherweight limit. But at age 27, it seems Max’s cut down to 145 could be getting tougher, which means a future at Lightweight could be in store for the current champion.

It’s something Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) president Dana White prefers.

“It’s weird; I’m not nervous, but I should be,” White told MMAjunkie. “You know, I didn’t want him to fight again at ’45. He wanted this fight so bad. He got cleared by every test and doctor and everything we’ve done. Came in light this week, so we’ll see what happens. Yeah, it would be really bad if he didn’t make weight.”

Indeed, there is still so much mystery regrading what actually forced Max out of his fight against Ortega at UFC 226. Still, everything seems to be on track for Holloway to make it to the weigh-ins and fight night with no hiccups. If all goes as planned, White still wants “Blessed” to fight a division above.

“I think he needs to go to ’55,” White said. “He’s too big for this weight. You can’t keep doing this to yourself and cutting to ’45. But you know what he wanted? He wants this Ortega fight. He wants to fight Ortega so bad. This is the fight he wanted. He got it. He medically got cleared, and he got what he wanted.”

Max has been open to the idea of moving up to Lightweight in the past, especially since United States Anti Doping Agency (USADA) has made a bit tougher for fighters to cut weight because of the ban on IV’s for hydration.

Indeed, the outcome of Saturday night’s fight against Brian Ortega at UFC 231 in Toronto, Ontario, Canada could be a major factor in Max’s decision to either stay put or move up to 155 pounds.

MMAmania.com will deliver LIVE round-by-round, blow-by-blow coverage of the entire UFC 231 fight card on fight night (click here), starting with the Fight Pass “Prelims” matches online, which are scheduled to begin at 6 p.m. ET, then the remaining undercard balance on FOX Sports 1 at 8 p.m. ET, before the PPV main card start time at 10 p.m. ET.

To see who else is fighting at UFC 231: ‘Holloway vs Ortega’ click here.