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Max Holloway wants a piece of UFC featherweight champion Ilia Topuria.

It’s been almost two years since Holloway challenged for featherweight gold, with his most recent championship bout occurring at UFC 276 in July 2022 when he lost to Alexander Volkanovski for a third time. This Saturday at UFC 300, Holloway gets a chance to snag the “BMF” belt when he fights Justin Gaethje in a lightweight bout, but he still has eyes on a return to 145 pounds.

Especially if Topuria is the one to welcome him back.

“He really wants to fight Topuria,” Holloway’s manager Tim Simpson said on The MMA Hour. “He feels like he’s going to whoop him. That’s Max’s words.”

Topuria has experienced a meteoric rise to stardom since debuting in the UFC in 2020. The undefeated fighter capped off a 7-0 start to his octagon career with a second-round knockout of Volkanovski at UFC 298 this past February. The championship win has resonated globally, with Topuria being feted in both his native Georgia and his current home country of Spain.

Holloway has beaten a pair of ranked opponents in his past two fights, Chan Sung Jung and Arnold Allen, and said at UFC 300 media day that he’s unsure why Topuria was able to jump him in the contender line. Despite his recent success, Holloway felt there was no guarantee that he’d receive a chance to right that wrong regardless of what happened between Topuria and Volkanovski, so he moved on to Gaethje and the BMF title.

“Max has spoken on it,” Simpson said of not waiting to see if Volkanovski will get an immediate rematch. “There’s the assumption with a long-reigning champion that an automatic rematch is there. There’s so much precedent for that. Kamaru [Usman] got it against Leon [Edwards]. Anderson Silva got it against Chris Weidman. [Valentina] Shevchenko got it. If you’ve been a champ for five-plus, even multiple defenses, highly likely you’re getting a shot at redemption. So while not a foregone conclusion, you’d be foolish to not assume that Volk was going to get a rematch. So you wait for what? You wait to wait.”

“I don’t think there was any guarantee that Max would have got another fight with Volk,” Simpson added. “So it’s possible, but again, do you take advantage of this opportunity or say, ‘Do I get the fourth fight? Can they sell that if someone else is going to do it? And then if Topuria wins, is there a rematch?’ There was just too much to be left in a void, and sure, if there was no other good option, like, ‘Hey, fight another person at ‘45 for normal pay or whatever,’ maybe then you think, let’s wait and see. [But] you get this massive event, massive opportunity? This is a life-changer for Max, honestly.”

Should Holloway get past Gaethje, he’ll have no shortage of options. With three straight wins, an illustrious list of accomplishments, and a legion of “Blessed” fans behind him, Holloway will have his pick of opponents with a win at UFC 300.

Simply put, Holloway’s manager expects to book his fighter in a title bout next, no matter what division he’s in.

“I think you win, you become the No. 1 contender in two weight classes,” Simpson said. “It’s massive.”