Max Holloway and Yair Rodriguez reunite in ambulance after brutal UFC fight

Max Holloway out-landed and out-pointed Yair Rodriguez in a thrilling featherweight clash in the UFC on Saturday night

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Max Holloway made a beeline for beaten opponent Yair Rodriguez as the rivals were taken to hospital after their brutal war.

Holloway edged out the Mexican on points after five hard-fought rounds to remain on track for a trilogy fight with featherweight champion Alexander Volkanovski.

Both fighters were taken to be checked out by a doctor with Holloway seeking out Rodriguez as he waited in the back of an ambulance.

“Yair, you frickin’ animal,” Holloway said as he approached his opponent. The pair shared compliments before posing for a picture.

Rodriguez’s left leg was shown to have swollen as a result of his efforts in his first fight in two years.

He and Holloway combined to land 389 significant strikes over 25 minutes, the third highest in the promotion’s history with each man earning a $50,000 bonus for their efforts.

“All the love to Yair,” Holloway said after the fight. “This guy’s a beast. I feel great. His boxing’s pretty good. He was moving like a boxer but then he was throwing elbows.

“Fair game to him; this guy’s a freaking beast, that’s why I wanted to fight him.”

Yair added: “I came really prepared for this fight. Max is an amazing fighter. He was better than me tonight.”

Holloway has lost two razor-thin decisions to Volkanovski and looks set for a third attempt next year.

But he left open the option of a rematch with Conor McGregor to whom he lost in 2013.

“We’ll see what happens,” Holloway added. “I got a win over the 155lb champion [Charles Oliveira], we’ve got Alex and stuff. I’m on the shortlist for Conor McGregor.

“To be the best, you’ve got to beat the best and the best is ‘Blessed.’ They can come after me, let’s get it.”

UFC president Dana White confirmed he will look to book the trilogy title fight when he said: “It’s one of those things; it was razor thin, he just comes in and puts on a performance like this.

“This is just a guy that Volkanovski’s going to have to just him out of the way and do it again.”

Earlier in Las Vegas, Marcos Rogerio de Lima knocked out heavyweight rival Ben Rothwell in the first round of their meeting while there were also main-card victories for Felicia Spencer, Khaos Williams and Song Yadong.

Brit Marc Diakiese was choked out by Rafael Alves in the second fight on the card.