Extra Mustard is a weekly column covering the ups and downs of combat sports and beyond, and everything in between.

Two summers ago, it looked like Max Holloway was finished.

Alexander Volkanovski outpointed him at UFC 276. This was Volkanovski’s third consecutive win over Holloway, and he has become more dominant with each win.

The July 2022 clash was about as one-sided as it gets, and having lost four of his last seven, the writing was clear on the wall: Holloway was entering the low point of his career.

Reports of Holloway’s death turned out to be greatly exaggerated.

Holloway has yet to taste the sting of defeat since his defeat to Volkanovski in July 2022. The first was a fiercely contested fight against Arnold Allen, designed to be Arnold’s breakout moment; Holloway rewrote the narrative again. He took a series of hard shots from Allen and reminded the fight world of his craft with a superb display. Then came his bludgeoning of The Korean Zombie last summer, a fight Holloway should have won.

Holloway, who turns 33 in December, capped his comeback with a shocking win over Justin Gaethje at UFC 300 in April, winning the ceremonial BMF title and once again capturing the fight world’s attention with his performance.

Now Holloway faces a new test. He faces a featherweight title shot against Ilia Topuria at UFC 308 in October, a formidable force who put Volkanovski to sleep to win the belt. But Holloway has one major advantage in this bout: He knows the feeling of failure.

Topuria, 27, is a phenomenal fighter. If you forget that for a moment, he will remind you. He is in dangerous territory with his self-promotion. Perhaps that arrogance will come back to bite him in this fight, perhaps not – but he is fighting a monster whose last rites have already been read.

Holloway has been forgotten and largely ignored since his last defeat to Volkanovski. Hell hath no fury like a long memory, and Holloway will fight like hell to make sure it doesn’t happen again.

Also, is there a timeline where Holloway wins that fight, regains the title, and then gives Volkanovski a fourth shot? Somewhere, members of the 1990s Buffalo Bills, who lost in four consecutive Super Bowl appearances, are rooting for him.