TORONTO – After 10 straight wins, Max Holloway finally has some gold to show for it.

Holloway (17-3 MMA, 13-3 UFC) stood up to Anthony Pettis’ (19-6 MMA, 6-5 UFC) best kicks and attacked with his own to stop the ex-lightweight champ in the third and claim the UFC interim featherweight title.

The interim featherweight title bout was the main event of today’s UFC 206 event at Air Canada Centre in Toronto. It aired on pay-per-view following prelims on FS1 and UFC Fight Pass.

Holloway stopped Pettis at the 4:50 mark of the third frame and used his post-fight speech to push a hashtag for his forthcoming title unification fight, which he hopes will take place at UFC 208.

“We’re trying to fight (Jose) Aldo, so I thought I’d call him Waldo – Jose Waldo,” a fired-up Holloway said after his finish. “Hashtag Jose Waldo, and tell him meet me in Brooklyn in February. Let’s get the real one!”

Just two weeks before the fight, Holloway and Pettis’ main event got an unexpected – and many would say unnecessary – bump in stature when the interim belt was put on the line, leaving Aldo the job of unifying the belts after the promotion handed him the undisputed title with Conor McGregor’s reported relinquishing of it this past month.

The sudden contenders shrugged at the opportunity, valuing a title shot against Aldo more than the stand-in belt. Then Pettis saw the interim title taken off the table when he missed weight, leaving a lopsided payoff for the fight.

Motivated by that bad news, Pettis came forward with his best look, a flashy and unpredictable kicking attack that left Holloway guessing. Initially, the Hawaiian struggled to get inside and took plenty of shots to the legs and torso. But as the opening frame wound down, he began to find his range with a straight right that opened a cut under Pettis’ right eye.

Little did he know, Holloway had also received a gift when Pettis reported between the second and third rounds that he’d possibly broken his hand.

“The first punch,” he later reported, holding up his damaged mitt. “I hit him on top of the head, and broke my hand. You can see it’s swollen right here.”

As you’d expect, Pettis focused his energy on his kicking attack, trying to catch Holloway napping on defense. There were few such opportunities, and Holloway responded again with his right hand, knocking the ex-champ to the mat. Pettis immediately began chasing down a counter and instead took shots to the body as Holloway tried to exacerbate the effects of a tough weight cut.

Holloway widened his lead in the third, sweeping Pettis to the mat with kicks and stuffing a takedown attempt with hard elbows. Holloway then took a page out of his opponent’s book, landing a body kick that stunned Pettis. At once, he closed the distance and fired away with short punches to the head and body, causing Pettis to slump to the canvas.

Holloway briefly halted his social media campaign to praise “Showtime” for his performance. But it was clear where his sights are set.

“This is my ticket to Jose Waldo,” he yelled. “Let me know when you guys find him. I’ll be waiting.”

Pettis won’t be waiting for the winner. He told UFC commentator Joe Rogan that his brief experiment at featherweight is over.

“I was dying from the weight cut,” he said. “Literally, they had to pull me out of the sauna. I depleted my body. So it’s too much of a cut. I have to (go back to lightweight). I can’t make the cut. It’s too hard.”

Up-to-the-minute UFC 206 results include:

• Max Holloway def. Anthony Pettis via TKO (punches) – Round 3, 4:50
• Donald Cerrone def. Matt Brown via knockout (head kick) – Round 3, 0:34
• Cub Swanson def. Dooho Choi via unanimous decision (30-27, 30-27, 29-28)
• Kelvin Gastelum def. Tim Kennedy via TKO (punches) – Round 3, 2:45
• Emil Meek def. Jordan Mein via unanimous decision (29-28, 29-28, 29-28)
• Misha Cirkunov def. Nikita Krylov via submission (guillotine choke) – Round 1, 4:38
• Olivier Aubin-Mercier def. Drew Dober via submission (rear-naked choke) – Round 2, 2:57
• Viviane Pereira def. Valerie Letourneau via split decision (29-28, 28-29, 29-28)
• Matthew Lopez def. Mitch Gagnon via unanimous decision (29-28, 29-28, 29-27)
• Lando Vannata def. John Makdessi via knockout (head kick) – Round 1, 1:40
• Rustam Khabilov def. Jason Saggo via unanimous decision (30-27, 30-27, 30-27)
• Dustin Ortiz def. Zach Makovsky via split decision (29-28, 28-29, 29-28)

For complete coverage of UFC 206, check out the UFC Events section of the site.

(MMAjunkie’s Dann Stupp and Mike Bohn contributed to this report on site in Toronto.)

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