Daniel Cormier told Max Holloway to ‘please stop’ doing the ‘point down’ move in his fights, Holloway responds
MMA Fighting
March 7, 2026
NEW ORLEANS, LOUISIANA - JULY 19: Max Holloway gestures to Dustin Poirier in the final minute of the BMF championship bout during the UFC 318 event at Smoothie King Center on July 19, 2025 in New Orleans, Louisiana. (Photo by Cooper Neill/Zuffa LLC)
Max Holloway has a long list of accolades on his resume but in the cage there’s little doubt that one of his best known moves is pointing to the ground and inviting his opponents to meet him in the middle for one final slugfest before the final horn sounds.
He first did it at UFC 199 in the closing seconds of his fight against Ricardo Lamas but it’s now become his signature move, especially after Holloway welcomed a violent final exchange with Justin Gaethje in their fight at UFC 300. With one second left on the clock, Holloway delivered a devastating punch that flatlined Gaethje and sent him crashing face-first to the canvas in what has become one of the most viral knockouts in UFC history.
But as much as Holloway seems to enjoy that move, UFC Hall of Famer and former two-division champion Daniel Cormier actually advised him to stop doing it.
“Before there was a ‘BMF’ title, you would do this — point down to the octagon and say let’s fight,” Cormier said to Holloway in an interview for Paramount+ ahead of UFC 326. “I, as a friend of yours, told you it’s not smart, please stop, there’s no reason to do it. But you continue to do it. Why?”
In response, Holloway admitted that it’s just something he loves doing and it serves as a constant reminder that he’s willing to throw down with anyone, anywhere and at any time.
That’s the attitude that has personified Holloway’s entire career and given the chance, he’ll almost certainly do it again in his next fight when he faces Charles Oliveira in the UFC 326 main event on Saturday.
“I mean that’s just it, I’m a fighter,” Holloway said. “This is what we do. It is what it is. It’s exhilarating, I guess is the word. Being in there, being in that moment. Even with the Dustin Poirier [fight] being able to point down, especially after everything that happened with the [Ilia] Topuria fight, everybody was saying I’m done. People just need reminders. I’m here. I’m still here. I’ve been here.
“I have to have one of the longest running pound-for-pound runs in the game right now. So at the end of the day, it is what it is. That’s just me.”
Holloway’s “point down” move has become so synonymous with his career that opponents almost always address the potential for that final slugfest before a fight is over.
Oliveira has even acknowledged the potential that he could get lured into that kind of exchange as he battles Holloway for the “BMF” title on Saturday.
”If he calls me at the beginning of the round or in the middle of the round, it doesn’t matter,” Oliveira told RMC Sports Combat. “I’ll be there. Like I just said, that’s why I break people mentally. I don’t run from a fight, I seek it out. I’m hunting the whole time. It makes no difference to me.”
Of course, Cormier is calling the fights on Saturday at UFC 326 so he might be just a few feet away from Holloway possibly pulling off that move again as he seeks a second straight win while also potentially putting himself in contention for the UFC lightweight title with a victory.
Verticals
sportsmma
Originally published on MMA Fighting on 3/7/2026