Max Holloway defeated Justin Gaethje in UFC 300 by knockout with one second left in the fifth round to with the BMF Belt.
By Jon Johnson
LAS VEGAS – He came, he saw, he conquered; as the underdog raising weight divisions, Max Holloway fought the most impressive fight of his lengthy career and knocked out Safford native and Bulldogs alum Justin “The Highlight” Gaethje with just one second left in the fifth round.
With the match seemingly in hand, Holloway called Gaethje to the center ring to slug it out for the BMF Belt and gave Justin his shot. Gaethje – badly beaten from a savage four rounds – obliged and joined Holloway as the two met and began throwing haymakers at each other. With just two seconds left in the match, Holloway connected with a hard right cleanly to Gaethje’s face/orbital socket and instantly turned out the lights with just one second left as those in attendance got all their money’s worth on that fight and then some. And that wasn’t even the headliner.
Gaethje (25-5 MMA, 8-5 UFC) was on a two-fight win streak after last falling at UFC 274 in Phoenix to Charles Oliveira by rear naked choke. After that, Gaethje won a bloodbath with Rafael Fiziev at UFC 286 and won the BMF by defeating Dustin Poirier by a head kick at UFC 291 in Salt Lake City before heading into UFC 300 in Las Vegas to face Max Holloway (26-7 MMA, 22-7 UFC).
Earlier in the night Oliveria fought a tough three-round fight with Arman Tsarukyan and fell despite having Tsarukyan in a choke hold as the third round ended. Tsarukyan was quite literally, saved by the bell.
After his win, Tsarukyan called for a title shot against current Lightweight Champion Islam Makhachev.
With the BMF Belt on the line and a possible title shot soon, Gaethje battled Holloway in what was deemed a gladiator-type fight of old.
Holloway caught Gaethje’s nose with his heel right at the end of the first round and broke it. That moment proved vital as the nose bothered Gaethje for the rest of the fight.
Then, in the second round, Gaethje suffered a severe eye poke, followed by a second eye poke in the other eye with about 1:30 left in the round.
In the third, Holloway seemed to take control and scored more heel kicks to stun Gaethje, as well as several combinations, but Justin continued to press the action.
Gaethje had chopped at Holloway’s left calf throughout the fight and began to focus on it in the fourth. Holloway’s leg began to swell, but Gaethje continued to take damage as the quicker Holloway boxed with a stick-and-move to hit and then retreat without taking damage.
Justin then took the round back by knocking Holloway down with a big right hand. A look of shock fell over Holloway at being knocked down perhaps for the first time in his professional fighting career.
But with the match on the line in the fifth, Holloway caught Gaethje with a severe combination and it looked like Gaethje might go down. However, Justin survived, continued the fight, and recovered to try to return.
Then, with just seconds left and the match in hand, Holloway called Gaethje to the center of the ring to trade blows and Gaethje obliged.
Unfortunately for Justin, with just one second left in the round Holloway caught him cleanly with a right hand and put out his lights instantly.
