Josh Emmett Calls Out Ex-UFC Champ After Highlight-Reel KO

Originally posted on MMA on SI | Last updated Jan 3, 2024 4:29 PM ET

Josh Emmett has his sights set on UFC gold in 2024, and the promotion’s #6-ranked featherweight contender believes the quickest path to the title runs through the division’s former champion.

After entering the year on a five-fight win streak that included a pair of devastating knockouts in 2019, Emmett found himself on the first losing streak of his career when he was submitted by Yair Rodriguez in an interim featherweight title fight and lost a lopsided unanimous decision to Ilia Topuria.

“CC0" entered a matchup with Bryce Mitchell at UFC 296 as an underdog but closed out 2023 with an incredible walk-off KO in the first round, and now Emmett says he wants to take on former titleholder Max Holloway in order to get back to the top of the featherweight division.

Currently the UFC’s #1-ranked featherweight contender, Holloway last entered the cage when he sent fan favorite “The Korean Zombie” Chan Sung Jung into retirement with a brutal knockout in the main event of UFC Singapore.

The victory over Jung gave Holloway back-to-back wins this year following his third loss to Alexander Volkanovski, who took the featherweight title from the Hawaiian when the pair first met at UFC 245 in 2019.

With Volkanovski preparing to defend his featherweight belt for the sixth time against Ilia Topuria in the main event of UFC 298 a matchup between Emmett and Holloway could potentially decide the next challenger for the division’s belt, although “Blessed” has said he's hoping to meet Justin Gaethje in a matchup for the BMF title at UFC 300.

This article first appeared on MMA on SI and was syndicated with permission.

More must-reads: