Max Holloway welterweight push gets JDM backing

Max Holloway has a welterweight win, yet almost none of the clean evidence that usually comes with one.

That is the odd place UFC 329 left him. Holloway beat Conor McGregor in their Las Vegas rematch during International Fight Week, but the bout turned strange almost immediately when McGregor’s knee gave out. The official result belongs to Holloway. The performance, at least as a scouting file for life at 170 pounds, barely got started.

So the most useful endorsement may not have come from the cage at all. Jack Della Maddalena spent time working with Holloway before the McGregor fight, then watched the whole anticlimax unfold in person. His takeaway was not cautious, polite or vague. The Australian believes Holloway has enough substance at welterweight to be more than a famous name taking a one-off detour.

Max Holloway welterweight move backed by Jack Della Maddalena after UFC 329

Della Maddalena is not a random admirer adding noise to the post-fight spin cycle. He is a former UFC welterweight champion, the man who took the belt from Belal Muhammad in May 2025, and his own success came in a division where size, timing and composure punish wishful thinking quickly. If Holloway looked too small, too slow, or too easy to move around in sparring, Della Maddalena would know what that looks like.

Instead, his message after UFC 329 was strikingly generous. Speaking to Full Send MMA, Della Maddalena said he expected Holloway to seize control early against McGregor, and he described training with the Hawaiian as an impressive experience. His sharpest assessment was that Holloway could “clean up 170” if he chose to remain there. That is a heavy compliment, especially from someone whose hands and reads are built for the very class Holloway is now testing.

Why the McGregor ending still leaves Holloway short of a full answer

The frustration is obvious. Holloway wanted to show what his pace, chin, boxing layers and five-round discipline look like with extra mass on his frame. Instead, McGregor’s injury stripped the fight of its proper form before either man could reveal much. Holloway gets the victory and the bigger platform, but he does not get the useful rounds: no prolonged exchanges, no clinch resistance, no late-fight proof that his usual weapons translate cleanly against natural welterweights.

• Holloway defeated Conor McGregor in the UFC 329 headliner.
• McGregor’s knee problem ended the competitive sample almost at once.
• Della Maddalena helped Holloway prepare before the Las Vegas bout.
• Makhachev is scheduled to face Ian Machado Garry at UFC 330 on August 15.

UFC 329 aftermath puts Holloway near the Islam Makhachev conversation

The title angle is where Holloway’s post-fight position becomes interesting, and a little uncomfortable for the rest of the queue. Before the event, McGregor was being discussed as a possible challenger for Islam Makhachev if he managed to beat Holloway. Holloway’s logic is simple enough: if beating him could have helped McGregor chase the champion, then beating McGregor should at least allow Holloway to ask for the same kind of attention.

That does not mean the UFC has to treat the case as complete. Makhachev still has Garry ahead of him at UFC 330, and welterweight is too deep to turn every star-driven result into an instant title eliminator. Holloway’s name gives the division a major commercial option, while Della Maddalena’s praise gives the move a layer of sporting credibility. The cleanest path would still be one more welterweight booking against a healthy contender, because Holloway’s reputation is already elite; what needs testing is the weight class fit.

Holloway has built a career on volume, toughness, adjustments and the rare ability to make elite fighters look hurried. Those traits give him a real argument at welterweight, even before the body of evidence catches up. Della Maddalena’s backing matters because it comes from shared preparation, not guesswork from afar. The only official fact so far is that Holloway left UFC 329 with a welterweight victory over Conor McGregor.