Written by Charles Csizmadia Jr.
Some fighter’s toughness and resilience speak for themself, even if they may not be holding gold. Max Holloway is one of those individuals, always rising to the occasion to put on a show for the fans while not needing to do much talking to sell his fight. While some pick and choose their fights and others have that old-school “anytime, anywhere” mentality, why is it that Max Holloway is one of the most real “gamers” the sport has to offer today?
The year is 2016. Ricardo Lamas is just two years out from an unsuccessful shot at the “King of Rio” at UFC 169 for the featherweight strap.
He eyes another shot, still within reach of the top in the rankings going 3-1 in his last four.
Enter a 24 ½-year-old Hawaiian kid by the name of Max Holloway.
Holloway would piece the former title challenger up for 103 significant strikes, good for 50% accuracy.
The most memorable part of the fifteen-minute scrap was the final ten seconds.
Holloway had everything to lose up two rounds to nill, yet would stand on the Monster Energy logo in the middle of the octagon.
As soon as he would hear the ten-second signal, he would point down at the canvas and nod.
No words exchanged, the point was made.
The two would then bang it out all the way until the end. The two would throw hook after hook, left, right, left, right.
Max would get the best of Lamas, as the speed at which he would throw was superior, as it is to most of his counterparts.
Post-fight when asked by Joe Rogan about the epic moment, Holloway would say that Lamas gave him the look that he “wanted to bang”, so he would pay homage to Julian Lane’s infamous “let me bang” tirade on The Ultimate Fighter Season 16 and do exactly that, “let him bang”.
Only in the fine-print, Holloway would be the one to connect more if one does in fact throw down with “Blessed”.
Since that fateful evening, the lengthy 145-pound brawler out of Gracie Technics in Waianae, Hawaii has defeated three former world champions and had a solid run as one himself.
He would finish Anthony “Showtime” Pettis, who had never been knocked out before, to capture the interim title and then would be the only man to ever dominate Jose Aldo in back-to-back fights through almost a half-hour combined of competition.
He would then knock him out both times to be the only person besides Conor McGregor at the time to do so.
Though nobody could take away Conor’s 13-second KO of the former featherweight king, a real fan of the sport should know that what Holloway did was more impressive, even if it did not create the uproar that the fastest knockout in title fight history did.
He would then call his shot against Brian Ortega. The two would have their moments, with Holloway getting the better of his challenger.
Then before the championship rounds, Holloway would channel his own version of “Mystic Mac” calling a 4th round finish.
Holloway would put on a striking clinic against Ortega, who turned into a walking punch dummy. Despite the massive heart on display from Ortega, he had no chance to win at that point.
Then midway into the round, the standup guy Max is, pauses his offense to teach Ortega how to block.
How demoralizing does that have to be for Ortega, who looked invincible to start his UFC career. Before his title shot, he possessed a 100% finish rate in the UFC since being called up from RFA.
Max would take a step back next in a rematch with Dustin Poirier, the man who handed him his first professional loss in his UFC debut at 20 years of age.
He would drop this one by unanimous decision with the interim lightweight belt on the line to a man alongside him is one of the best boxers in MMA today.
He went the distance with Poirier whilst giving up over ten pounds on the fight night to Dustin, who was visibly larger and admitted to weighing 176 on fight night, 21.5 more than the day prior at weigh-ins.
He would return to his stomping grounds of featherweight to add a third title defense over Frankie Edgar before having a pair of controversial contests with Alexander Volkanovski, which saw him lose the belt then fail to reclaim it.
Though the first contest looked to most to be Volkanovski three rounds to two more than anything, the second fight looked at least to be three rounds to two in favor of Max.
After a fight many were screaming robbery, everyone was intrigued to see how he would respond.
Being the absolute gamer Max Holloway is, he reminded us just why Joe Rogan and others were already labeling him featherweight GOAT before the age of 30.
He would brutalize his victim in Calvin Kattar to kick off the 2021 action on Fight Island in Abu Dhabi.
He would not just throw, but land 445 significant strikes, well over the previous record for most in UFC history.
This outlandish mark would be higher than any combined strike total from both fighters in a contest in promotion history, including five-round fights.
Max would look like something out of a video game that night, a Super Saiyan Goku from Dragon Ball Z.
With a minute and a half remaining, he would start talking to the commentary team. While shouting, “I’m the best boxer in the UFC!”, he would land a right jab and evade five strike attempts from a dejected and bloodied Calvin Kattar, all while staring at the commentary booth.
He would then look at Kattar, repeating his claim, and keep the pace going to the bell.
He would also tell Kattar that “freshman came to play,” a response to a comment Kattar made in the leadup to the fight that he felt that in terms of standup ability, Kattar was a “senior” and Holloway was a “freshman”.
He had this performance of a lifetime while having zero sparring sessions to prepare, conducting all of his training over Zoom with his coaches.
Without a doubt, he solidified his shot at the title after that fight, something the boss Dana White would verbalize himself.
Unfortunately, fans would have to wait a little while longer before seeing Max challenge for a title they felt was rightfully his, as Volkanovski was set to take on the aforementioned Brian Ortega in March.
In an unfortunate turn of events, Volkanovski would contract COVID-19, setting his next defense back even further.
Max waited.
Then after Volkanovski recovered, in an unprecedented move, the UFC decided they would relaunch their popular reality TV series The Ultimate Fighter with him and Ortega as coaches.
Fans were not thrilled, to say the least, as they wanted to see a bigger rivalry like Colby Covington and Kamaru Usman or Jorge Masvidal coach TUF.
They also were not thrilled because this meant that the title matchup would not produce a winner until late 2021.
Max had a decision to make. Does he play the long wait game, sitting on the shelf for over a year to claim a shot that was rightfully his that nobody else in the division had a shot at, or keep fresh, give the fans what they want in seeing him fight, and once again remind us all of the warrior that is Max Holloway?
As of Wednesday, May 26th, it has been announced that Holloway will be the one to welcome back third-ranked contender Yair Rodriguez to the UFC octagon on July 17th.
Max had no reason to take a fight, other than his sheer will to cement his legacy as one of the greatest pound-for-pound fighters to ever do it.
That is the drive and hunger that a lot of these fighters lack today. They all have it for a period of time, but a good portion of the roster loses that killer mentality once they make it to the big stage, scared to lose their spot.
Sitting in the number one contender spot and a target painted on his back, Holloway seems to have the same grind he did as a fresh 15-year-old that took up kickboxing to take his mind off of a rough upbringing.
Since that Lamas fight, Holloway has outlanded his opponents 1,756 significant strikes to 1,070. When you look only at his wins in that time frame, those numbers become 1,339 to 598, good for 2.24 strikes landed to every opponent’s one strike landed.
Like another fan-favorite Jorge Masvidal, Holloway is an animal that has been bred for the game. Persevering, ready, willing, full of fight and spirit.
He is a fantastic father and ambassador for the sport at 29 years of age.
Max Holloway has all the makings of a champion, and in due time, he will become one again.
Until that day comes, he remains the people’s champion.
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