UFC 206 just got a whole lot more interesting with the addition of a featherweight dust-up between Max Holloway and Anthony Pettis for the December 10th card in Toronto, Canada.
Following a run of three successive losses at lightweight, former 155lb champion Pettis dropped down a weight class in the summer and the gamble to resurrect his career paid off as got back in the win column, securing a third-round guillotine submission over Charles Oliveira at UFC on Fox 21 in August.
In Holloway, however, he faces a man in the form of his life and currently riding an incredible nine-fight win streak. Had it not been for the disarray of the featherweight division, where current champion Conor McGregor is scheduled to fight Eddie Alvarez at UFC 205 for the lightweight title and interim champion José Aldo is still seemingly at odds over his own future, the Hawaiian should have been in a title fight by now.
Remarkably, Holloway and lightweight Tony Ferguson, who returns to action next weekend, are the only two fighters in UFC history who have scored 8+ successive wins in the organisation without receiving a title shot.
Holloway has been campaigning on social media for a fight with Aldo for quite some time, but in accepting a fight with Pettis, puts himself in a position to get another signature win on a pay-per-view main card against a former champion and one of the most spectacular strikers in the sport who carries real name value.
For Pettis a win over Holloway would rocket him right to the top of the 145lb division thus fast tracking him back into title contention. A win here and we could potentially get the Aldo vs. Pettis fight that was originally planned for UFC 163 in August of 2013.
Here is what the current UFC 206 card looks like: