RIO DE JANEIRO – Max Holloway first wants to get paid. Then, whoever wants his belt, they can come see him.

Holloway (18-3 MMA, 14-3 UFC), the newly minted UFC featherweight champ, has an early candidate in mind for the first title defense of his undisputed belt: Frankie Edgar (22-5-1 MMA, 16-5-1 UFC).

“Me and Frankie, that sounds awesome,” he told MMAjunkie after stopping Jose Aldo in the pay-per-view headliner of UFC 212 at Jeunesse Arena in Rio de Janeiro. “Everybody keeps saying I didn’t fight people, and Aldo said I didn’t fight people.

“Frankie is a former champ, and I’ve got two former champions under my belt. It would be nice adding another one.”

Now that Holloway is officially the man to beat at 145 pounds, the target on his back is now big 24-7. Cub Swanson, once inches away from getting a title shot before a loss to Edgar, made his case after Holloway’s win that he should fight for the title. Edgar most recently stopped up-and-coming prospect Yair Rodriguez to stay in the title picture.

The idea of an immediate rematch with Aldo (27-2 MMA, 9-1 UFC) was also floated. Holloway is fine with any contender. But first thing’s first.

“I’ve got to have that meeting,” Holloway said. “If they want to do it, let’s do it in Hawaii. I know a place. A stadium. It’s very nice. The weather is warmer than here. The beach water is not cold. We have this thing called shaved ice you’d love.”

Holloway cited UFC President Dana White as his motivation for staying on his game and demanding his due when success arrived.

“I don’t want money fights,” Holloway said. “We had a meeting before. He said this is big-game hunting. The bigger the game you bring to the table, the bigger the paychecks you get. And I think Aldo is a silverback gorilla. Now, I want my paycheck.

“I don’t want money fights. I want to get paid. I want to defend my throne. I’m going to be here for a long time.”

The featherweight division’s king hasn’t always been so committed to his own kingdom. When Conor McGregor knocked out Aldo to win the undisputed belt, he quickly set his sights on the lightweight title, which he won. The UFC then stripped McGregor of the featherweight belt and awarded it to Aldo, who’d won an interim strap against Edgar this past July at UFC 200.

There was a long time when Holloway was simply waiting for the logjam at featherweight to be cleared so he could fight for the title. Now that he’s captured it, he doesn’t plan on following in McGregor’s footsteps, much less campaigning for a rematch with the lightweight champ, who handed him his last loss in 2013.

It’s the “Blessed” era, and Holloway is going to enjoy his time at the top.

“That guy was the 2015 champ,” Holloway said of McGregor. “This is called the year 2017 right now. He was the 2015 champ, and I’m the champ. If he wants to come back down, he can come and get it. But if not, it is what it is. He’s a different kind of guy. He’s the guy who’s always looking over the fence. He’s always trying to look for the next great thing. He never really controlled his (championship).

“(I’m like) Demetrious Johnson; he finds this motivation of keep defending, keep defending. It takes a special human being to do that, and that’s me. I want to defend my throne. I want to show I’m the champ. Come try to take my village – off with your head. This guy’s over here, always trying to look for the bigger thing, and that’s him. Good for him. I ain’t going to try to chase someone around; I ain’t going to try and talk about someone who’s not talking about me.

“He gets to choose his fights. Why am I going to try and beg him to fight me? Get the hell out of there with that (expletive). He can beg to fight me now, dog. I’m to that point where people are going to start asking me to fight. I’m not going to ask people to fight. I’ve got my throne. If he wants it, come see me.”

For more on UFC 212, check out the UFC Events section of the site.