An hour after suffering the first knockout loss of his 30-fight UFC career, Max Holloway sat behind a podium and answered every question any reporter had to offer.

When he was done, he stood up and had one last thing to say unprovoked.

“You guys gonna see me back. This is not a funeral, guys, I promise.”

It took more than 12 years going all the way back to when a baby-faced, amped up, 20-year-old was yelling his way to the octagon as Kanye West’s “Stronger” blared over the speakers inside of Mandalay Bay Events Center in Las Vegas to see Holloway taken out like that.

Eyes rolling into the back of his head, jaw spinning as he fell to the canvas, Holloway suffered his first knockdown, and then moments later, TKO finish, challenging Ilia Topuria for the UFC featherweight title in the main event of UFC 308 in Abu Dhabi on Saturday morning.

Many fans were woken up to a flash flood warning on their cell phones only to see Holloway’s career at 145 pounds wash away hours later to a 27-year-old undefeated champion who is destined to be the UFC’s next big star.

Holloway didn’t quite close the door on his career fighting at 145 pounds, where he held the title for three years while winning 13 consecutive fights within the division, but after losing for the fourth consecutive time in a featherweight title fight, now is the time to go big-game hunting at lightweight.

“What else is there to do?” Holloway questioned about the 145-pound division. “I think (155) looks more fun. The names there look really exciting to put my name in the mix.”

Holloway is only 32 years old, but with 30 fights and more than eight hours of fight time logged inside of the UFC octagon, the next stage of his career is upon us.

No longer will there be a year that goes by with him fighting four times as he did in 2012, ’14 or ’15.

He hasn’t fought more than twice in a year since the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020, and when asked about a timeline for wanting his next fight, Holloway looked all the way ahead to next July and a potential International Fight Week appearance.

There are no more mountains to climb, just different ones to stand on.

Holloway is a hall of famer the moment he is eligible to be in. It’s hard to make the case he’s the greatest featherweight ever with three losses to Alexander Volkanovski, but his winning streak beginning after the loss to Conor McGregor all the way to the first Volkanovski fight that lasted more than six years is one of the truly great individual runs in UFC history.

Thirteen straight wins, including five victories over opponents who either had or went on to be a UFC champion.

Holloway elevated the 145-pound division to a level it had never reached. With Topuria likely fighting Volkanovski next, he has the opportunity to vanquish the only other two truly great 145-pounders at this moment in time.

For Holloway, the lightweight division has names that can sell pay-per-views. Dustin Poirier, who we thought might have retired, has already said this weekend he would be willing to fight Holloway a third time.

Michael Chandler, who finally got sick of waiting around for McGregor, has a fight next month with former 155-pound champ Charles Oliveira, who Holloway owns a victory over.

The winner of that fight seems extremely tasty.

And then there’s McGregor. The cash cow and UFC’s biggest star is expected back at some point, although we’ve been hearing that for what feels like forever. It was going to be Chandler, but after multiple postponements, he finally gave up playing the waiting game.

The timing might actually end up working out to set up a long-awaited rematch of a 2013 fight that ended with McGregor’s hand raised after a unanimous decision.

Not that the fight needs any extra selling points, but Holloway still has the UFC’s pseudo championship, the “BMF” belt, that could be put on the line.

These are the decisions the UFC and Holloway and his camp will make over the coming weeks and months.

Saturday’s loss isn’t the end of the line for Holloway, but it felt like the beginning of the final stretch.

His next walk to the cage will be his 31st, and while it will be just as fun and entertaining as the rest of them, it will also feel a little bit more special.

For the very first time, the end is somewhere out there on the horizon. It’s still as far away as the eye can see, but it’s there, and it’s weird to acknowledge you can feel it.

For a man who has given fans some of the most chicken-skin moments the UFC has ever produced, it’s time to appreciate every time we get to see him make that walk again.

Topuria took away Holloway’s run at 145 pounds on Saturday. Father Time will ultimately take away Holloway’s career. For whatever is left in between, enjoy every moment, because a Max Holloway doesn’t come around very often.

After all, who else would show up for more than 10 minutes for a press conference after getting knocked out like that?

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Reach Billy Hull at bhull@staradvertiser.com.