Max Holloway Expresses Interest in Khabib UFC Fight After Win vs. Calvin Kattar

While Conor McGregor is busy trying to coax Khabib Nurmagomedov out of retirement for a rematch, Max Holloway is saying he'll fight next week if the opportunity presents itself. 

If it happens to help Holloway jump the line to fight Nurmagomedov, so be it.

After his unanimous-decision victory over Calvin Kattar at UFC on ABC 1 on Saturday, Holloway said he plans to stick around "Fight Island" in Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates, should the promoter need a backup fighter for McGregor vs. Dustin Poirier at UFC 257—potentially putting him in line to face Nurmagomedov.

“I’m here until next week. If something happens in this crazy, wild sport, don’t be surprised, man,” Holloway said (h/t Nolan King and John Morgan at MMAJunkie). “Tune in next week to a huge pay-per-view. There’s a bunch of surprises happening.”

UFC President Dana White appreciated the offer, but essentially said "no thanks" to Holloway. 

“I think he deserves to go home and take some time off,” White said. “I respect it, but yeah, we’re good. We’re covered.”

Holloway won't take White's word for it. He'll remain in Abu Dhabi just in case there's a chance he could end up fighting again, though it's clear he has his sights set on a much bigger target. 

“We’ll see what happens, even with Khabib, you know?” Holloway said. “Khabib is saying that he wants something that’s super interesting. Maybe I pushed him over the edge a little bit. We had one of the best press conferences in the world, I think. We just didn’t have the fight. We could fill that in if he wanted to.”