Joe Rogan Reveals the Biggest Mistake of Max Holloway’s Career Ahead of Conor McGregor Showdown

2024 was an odd year in Max Holloway’s career. He reached the highest of highs in the lightweight division when he knocked out Justin Gaethje at UFC 300. However, just 4 months later, he would come crashing down after getting knocked out for the first time in his career by Ilia Topuria. Now, UFC commentator Joe Rogan has analyzed what went wrong for ‘Blessed’ that year.

Before he was beaten by Topuria, Holloway was on a tear in the featherweight division. He had essentially become a gatekeeper for the title with wins over nearly every featherweight except the champion, Alexander Volkanovski. However, considering he’d lost to him thrice, a title shot seemed unlikely. This was why the Hawaiian jumped at the opportunity to fight Gaethje at 155lbs.

Just two months before that fight, things changed when Volk got knocked out by Topuria, opening the door for Holloway to regain his featherweight belt. However, Joe Rogan believes that the former BMF titleholder should not have gone back down to featherweight to fight the Spaniard after his sensational win at UFC 300.

[Max Holloway] should have never went down to 45 again to fight Topuria. It’s too much of a loss physically… I understand why he took the fight at 45. Maybe he would have favored that fight with Ilia because Ilia is a smaller guy than Islam.

Joe Rogan via the Joe Rogan Experience

🎙️ Joe Rogan says Max Holloway should have never gone back down to 145 lbs after moving up to 155 lbs, but he understands why he did it. 🤔

"That guy should have never gone back down to 145 to fight Ilia Topuria. It was too much of a loss physically.

via: @joerogan pic.twitter.com/QWOaNc4ejm

— MMA Pros Pick (@MMA_PROS_PICK_) May 29, 2026

The former Fear Factor host brings up a solid point here. Despite fears that he would be undersized against Gaethje, Max Holloway surprised fans with his transformed physique heading into UFC 300. He had bulked up considerably for his return to lightweight in 2024. So, cutting that weight was never going to be easy for him, just four months after putting it on.

That said, immediately after his shocking knockout loss at UFC 308, the former featherweight champion dispelled any theories about his weight cut being responsible for his loss.

I had the best ‘45 cut here, but what else is there to do?

Max Holloway via the UFC 308 post-fight presser

Nonetheless, Rogan isn’t the only person who believed that cutting down to featherweight wasn’t the best move for the Hawaiian. Heading into their fight in Abu Dhabi, Ilia Topuria also made some telling comments about Holloway’s weight cut.

Ilia Topuria also felt Max Holloway was fighting in the wrong weight class ahead of UFC 308

Fans were convinced that Ilia Topuria was afraid of Max Holloway after seeing the Spaniard’s reaction to the Justin Gaethje knockout. However, not only did ‘El Matador’ claim that he was not scared, but he also revealed being unimpressed by the spectacular last-second finish. He asserted that there was no real striking technique on display from either fighter during the finishing sequence.

Moreover, in an interview with Kevin Iole, the former UFC featherweight champion maintained that he wasn’t even surprised by the way the BMF title fight ended at UFC 300. Topuria revealed that he always knew that Holloway was better suited to the UFC’s lightweight division.

In reality, Max Holloway is bigger than Justin Gaethje. The only thing is that he cuts more weight than him. But in reality, he belongs to the 155 division. He’s very tall. He’s not that skinny [like] people imagine. In reality, he’s a 155 fighter. So it didn’t surprise me at all, to be honest.

Ilia Topuria to Kevin Iole

Apart from his most recent fight, Max Holloway has certainly looked rejuvenated in the UFC’s lightweight division. However, his next fight sees ‘Blessed’ fight even higher up in weight as he takes on the ‘Notorious’ Conor McGregor at welterweight this July during International Fight Week at UFC 329.

This will be the ex-BMF champion’s first outing at 170lbs. Former opponent and UFC fighter-turned-analyst Dustin Poirier has predicted the Hawaiian to carry more power into this new division. Nonetheless, it is safe to say that Holloway’s weight-cutting woes are behind him heading into this fight.

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