December was a good month for the UFC’s featherweight division. Champion Max Holloway made his first successful title defense, Brian Ortega scored a slick submission in a televised main event, and Josh Emmettconnected with a massive knockout in the co-headliner of a network-televised fight card.

Holloway (19-3 MMA, 15-3 UFC), who defended his title with a third-round TKO of Jose Aldo (26-4 MMA, 9-3 UFC) at UFC 218, said he liked what he saw out of the latter two, who are making a surge up the 145-pound rankings toward a crack at the gold.

Ortega (13-0 MMA, 5-0 UFC) remained undefeated in MMA when he tapped Cub Swanson with a tight choke in the UFC Fight Night 123, and Emmett (13-1 MMA, 4-1 UFC) made a statement when he put the lights out on Ricardo Lamas at UFC on FOX 26. Both men beat opponents who have long been ranked in the top five, and Holloway said that’s a big deal.

“I was impressed by the two wins by those guys – of course,” Holloway told MMAjunkie. “Ortega finishes Cub – that’s impressive stuff. It’s always impressive when you finish someone. Finishing anybody in the top 10, even the top five when we’re talking about those two guys, is amazing. We’re the best fighters in the world and you get to finish them, that’s always cool to see.”

Holloway is not the type to shoot down or belittle the contenders in his weight class. “Blessed,” who is in the midst of a 12-fight UFC winning streak, has made it clear he wants a long title reign where he rids the weight class of all perceived threats. His next challenger will likely come in the form of former UFC lightweight titleholder Frankie Edgar (22-5-1 MMA, 16-5-1 UFC), who he was supposed to fight at UFC 218 before “The Answer” withdrew due to injury.

Ortega and Emmett both landed on Holloway’s radar with their recent performances, and the Hawaiian said he looks forward to eventually sharing the octagon with each of them.

“Me and Ortega are two young kids, so it should be fun whenever that happens,” Holloway said. “Josh Emmett came in and was able to shake it up real quick. I’m excited for the future. A lot of people are saying that one of those guys are going to give me a run. I can’t wait. I’m glad and I’m looking forward to the challenges. All these guys are cupcakes and there’s some new flavors, and I want my taste of them.”

The knockout by Emmett, in particular, had a huge impact in the divisional pecking order. Lamas had been an established, top-tier fighter, and the rather unheralded Emmett came in and put him to sleep with a perfect left hook in the opening round. The problem, however, is that Emmett missed weight for the contest.

Holloway admits he feels somewhat bad for Lamas, who was supposed to fight Aldo at UFC on FOX 26 before the Brazilian was shifted into a title fight when Edgar suffered his injury. Missing weight is something which attracts a lot of criticism in the sport, but Holloway said he Emmett wants to pull that stunt against him, he’d welcome it.

“It is our job to make weight and Ricardo is the man; he didn’t have to, but he took (the fight) anyway,” Holloway said. “If (Emmett) made 145, or 146 and was two pounds off, he would gain pretty much the same thing anyway. It’s just he’s not dying in the moment. I don’t really take nothing away from him. He had to give up 30 percent (of his purse). It’s simple: Ricardo got caught, and it’s life. This is a game.

“I’m glad he missed weight. Anybody wants to fight me and miss weight, come do it, bro. I get your money and I get to whoop your ass. I don’t take nothing away from the guy. You have a job, you’re supposed to make weight, but that would get me more fired up. This guy wants to disrespect me and not make weight? I’ll make sure with the ass-whooping you get that you’ll be like, ‘Damn, I should have made weight.’”

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