The Curious Case of a Clear No. 2

With his victory against outstanding young contender Arnold Allen last weekend, former featherweight champion Max Holloway proved that he is the undisputed second-best featherweight in the Ultimate Fighting Championship, clearly better than everyone except champion Alexander Volkanovski. I use the qualifier “in the UFC” since I believe Bellator MMA's Patricio Freire is as great as or better than any UFC featherweight, Volkanovski included. However, since Dana White learned his lesson about the danger of inter-promotional fights back in 2003, when then-face of the UFC Chuck Liddell was knocked out in the Pride Fighting Championships Middleweight Grand Prix before making the finals, Freire is a moot point. The UFC is a closed pool and Volkanovski is 3-0 against Holloway, with their third fight being especially convincing, so a fourth fight is unlikely. Volkanovski is clearly better than Holloway, and Holloway is clearly better than the rest of the division.

Firstly, it bears noting how exceptionally rare this situation is. Even when we have a legendary champion who is seemingly head-and-shoulders above the rest of the division, we often learn that the contenders are much better than we gave them credit for, as Kamaru Usman, Valentina Shevchenko and Israel Adesanya all experienced within the past year. So even the first part occurs far less than 50% of the time. Having a dominant number two behind a dominant champion is at least an order of magnitude rarer. Not only do you need a second fighter who has that same level of success against the rest of the division, but that second fighter then needs to be clearly inferior to the champion. Thus, we should appreciate Holloway's unique status.

The problem is that Volkanovski needs worthy challengers for his featherweight throne, but the promotion should avoid having them face Holloway because of the high likelihood they will be defeated. How should this be handled? Well, the exact opposite of how the UFC's incompetent, foolish matchmakers, whom I'm now forced to mention for a second week in a row, have done it. Frankly, I could devote every opinion article to the ineptitude of Sean Shelby, Mick Maynard and the organization’s other decision makers solely in terms of matchmaking and putting together cards, and never lack for content. However, that would quickly become boring for everyone, me included.

The UFC’s matchmakers have now ignored this simple principle twice in a row. First, they had Yair Rodriguez face Holloway. Holloway won as expected, which has put a significant damper on everyone's enthusiasm for Rodriguez's upcoming showdown against Volkanovski. A shame, especially since Rodriguez is one of the most exciting fighters in the entire sport, but at least the UFC learned from it, right? Of course not. They had Allen, a perfect 10-0 in the UFC, and a seemingly perfect title challenger, face Holloway rather than Volkanovski. Why would they do this? A fighter beginning their tenure 10-0 in the UFC is exceptionally rare, a mark that even some of the greatest champions haven't been able to attain. And Allen did this at featherweight, in my opinion the second most high-skill division in MMA behind bantamweight. What's more, he is 29 years old, so still fairly young and only getting better. Allen-Holloway was an excellent fight, but from a promotional perspective, what was the damn point? If Allen won, he would have received the shot against Volkanovski he should have received originally. If he lost, which occurred, he was knocked out of contention. And while Allen has plenty of opportunity to climb back given his age, he will still be dismissed as a serious challenger against Volkanovski because he was defeated by Holloway. Meanwhile, whom is Volkanovski going to face if he beats Rodriguez? He had a ready opponent before with Allen, but now? Going by the UFC’s official rankings, he will have beaten No. 1 contender Rodriguez, gone 3-0 against No. 2 Holloway and already demolished No. 3 Brian Ortega, which would leave fourth-ranked Allen—except he just lost. No. 5 is Josh Emmett, who just lost badly to Rodriguez and is clearly past his prime, while No. 6 is Chan Sung Jung, yet another foe Volkanovski has already dominated. The UFC must sincerely hope No. 9 Ilia Topuria prevails against Emmett and climbs the rankings, although knowing them, there is a chance they go for the trifecta and have him face Holloway instead!

This leads us to another interesting question. If the UFC wants to avoid feeding top contenders to Holloway and leaving Volkanovski without viable title challengers, then whom is Holloway supposed to fight? To match him up against second-tier featherweights would be a waste of one of the greatest fighters ever. That is why, when mentioning potential matches after “UFC Kansas City,” I suggested a blockbuster match-up in Max Holloway vs. Justin Gaethje at 155 pounds. Since Holloway isn't going to regain his featherweight crown so long as Volkanovski sits on the throne, why not encourage him to move up a weight class, where numerous big matchups await? What about Holloway facing Charles Oliveira, or taking a second crack at Dustin Poirier? Win or lose, these are huge, exciting, fresh matchups. And considering Holloway is one of the biggest featherweights ever, walking around at 185 pounds or more, he won't lack for size at lightweight. I don't know whether the UFC has suggested he move up or not, let alone Holloway's response, but this would be a great solution. Volkanovski gets a steady diet of worthy challengers without them being derailed by Holloway, and Holloway gets a bunch of huge, pay-per-view main event-caliber bouts and an opportunity to fight for a title again. It's a win for everyone—which means it won't happen.