Sitting upon a dais in Toronto at UFC 206, draped in formal wear colored-coded with implications — black suit for the funeral of a legend, golden lining for the ride yet to come — Holloway ended 2016 by letting the MMA world in on a secret of how exactly the new year would play out. “Tune in,” he insisted, his gold-plated tie shimmering in the night. “This is just the beginning.” That was before the hunt for Jose (W)aldo kicked into high gear, before Holloway did the damn thing not just once, but twice, ending the reign of an all-timer with two of the most eye-opening back-to-back performances in UFC championship history.
MMA Fighting’s 2017 Fighter of the Year: Max Holloway
