Following a big win last night against Cole Miller in the co-main event of UFC Fight Night 60, rising star Max Holloway been handed his next assignment.
Holloway, who’s now on a five fight winning streak, was immediately approached by the UFC with the offer of a fight with Cub Swanson at UFC On FOX 15 on April 18th and he didn’t hesitate to accept it.
“It’s signed and done,” Holloway said at the post-fight press conference. “When the UFC gives you a fight, you say yes. Even if you’re thinking of saying no, you say yes because if you say no, you’re going to be away for a long time.
“It’s an opportunity. Cub’s a top-5 fighter.”
Holloway has had a similar step up in competition before, facing Dennis Bermudez and then Conor McGregor in the space of four months in 2013, but he came up on the losing end of the equation both times by decision.
He’s still just 23 years of age though and is clearly improving with each Octagon outing, and so with a comfortable win over a veteran campaigner like Miller the UFC believes he’s now ready to go that next level again.
It’s easy to see why the UFC would want this match-up as stylistically it’s a perfect fit with both Holloway and Swanson being two of the most entertaining stand-up fighters around who’re almost guaranteed to put on a crowd-pleasing performance on ‘big’ FOX.
““He’s a striker, I’m a striker, so it should be a fun one to watch,” Holloway declared. “You’re going to see a bunch of cool spinning stuff.”
It’s a tall order for Holloway though with Swanson having recently gone a six fight winning streak against a higher caliber of opposition than he’s been facing.
That put the 31 year-old almost within reach of a title shot, but he then came unstuck against former lightweight champion Frankie Edgar, losing out by submission with just four seconds left of their five round fight – the latest stoppage in UFC history.
