UFC Interim Featherweight Champion Max Holloway is facing UFC Featherweight Champion Jose Aldo in a title unification fight at UFC 212.
Despite his call outs of the champion over the last few months, the interim champion still has a lot of respect for the Brazilian.
“At the end of the day, I respect him,” Holloway said at a UFC 212 press event. “Everybody’s like, ‘Oh, you know you’ve got to respect him.’ Look, idiots, if I didn’t respect him, I would have not been here. At the end of the day, you’ve got to respect. But when I go in there, he’s trying to take my head off. We’re getting into a fight. We’re fighting, guys. What are you talking about? What am I supposed to be? All goody two-shoes and be like, ‘Oh, yeah, he’s amazing.’ No. He’s great. His run, his era, was great. But it’s time for the ‘Blessed’ era now. Out with the old, in with the new.”
Holloway became the interim champion when he defeated Anthony Pettis at UFC 206, while Aldo was handed his belt after the UFC stripped Conor McGregor of the championship.
Even though he has a lot of respect for Aldo, the interim champion just wants to dominate on route to victory.
“At the end of the day, I want to just dominate,” Holloway said. “I don’t want 13-second Aldo; I don’t want that Aldo. I want the best damn Aldo, so when he shows up, and I dominate, there are no excuses.”
UFC 212 takes place on Saturday, June 3 from the HSBC Arena in Rio De Janeiro, Brazil with Jose Aldo and Max Holloway headlining. Fightful is providing live coverage of the event, with a post-show podcast to follow.
