Max Holloway: From Hard-Knock Upbringing to Title Contention
Max Holloway: From Hard-Knock Upbringing to Title Contention
UFC featherweight title contender Max Holloway talks about his journey from a rough upbringing to becoming a title contender.
By Tony Reid
FloCombat--Saturday night at UFC 199 you are set to face Ricardo Lamas. You are always down to scrap. He is always down to scrap. How do you see this fight playing out when the Octagon door shuts behind you guys?
Max Holloway-Like you said, he’s down to scrap. I’m down to scrap. I think it’s going to be a banger. It should be a fan favorite. There’s no secret what to expect when you come to fight Max Holloway. I like to strike and I want to do damage. I can’t wait to test myself against a guy like Ricardo.
With a win over Lamas Saturday night where would that big “w” put you in the rankings in the featherweight division?
I don’t know. We have to wait and see. One step at a time. I am focused on Ricardo. All I am focused on is him. I am just focused on getting my hand raised Saturday night.
You are on an incredible eight fight winning streak. What has been the best moment from this crazy run you are on?
I think the Cub fight is the most notable. A lot of people were talking trash, thinking I couldn’t hang with Cub and once the fight happened it was the complete opposite. I think that fight has been the best of my current run.
You are from a small town in on the west side Oahu where most people look down on people from that particular area. You rose above it all and fought through so much adversity growing up to now be fighting for the largest MMA organization on the planet. That’s pretty amazing.
We like to joke with people about Hawaii that the headline news is “Mans Steps on Cockroach”. I’m from a little town, Waianae, on the west side of Oahu. It’s crazy there. People like to party there. People drink and do drugs. That area is very heavy on drug use. It’s not a great place to be but its home to me and I love it. There is a lot of bad but there is also a lot of good that comes from that area.
There are a lot of talented, not only fighters, but athletes that should be coming out of there but they fall in to the stereotype and that stereotype eats them alive. I didn’t let that happen to me. I am too mentally strong. I am representing all of Hawaii. Representing the islands is great. It has been a fun ride and I have been getting nothing but support from all of the Hawaiian Islands. It feels great to be in this position.
What was it about you that made you not become one of those statistics? What made you different?
It’s no secret that, growing up, my mom was a drug user. She was a drug user and my dad wasn’t around at all. My mom has been clean and sober for a bunch of years now. That’s great for her. I see these athletes from the area that I’m from that were supposed to be in the NFL or play professional baseball in MLB and they just don’t do it. It irritates me. They have all this talent and it went to waste. I was not going to let that happen. I was not going to waste my talents. I was going to go out there and show that even being from where I am from you can go out there and do it. You can do anything in the world.
FloCombat--Saturday night at UFC 199 you are set to face Ricardo Lamas. You are always down to scrap. He is always down to scrap. How do you see this fight playing out when the Octagon door shuts behind you guys?
Max Holloway-Like you said, he’s down to scrap. I’m down to scrap. I think it’s going to be a banger. It should be a fan favorite. There’s no secret what to expect when you come to fight Max Holloway. I like to strike and I want to do damage. I can’t wait to test myself against a guy like Ricardo.
With a win over Lamas Saturday night where would that big “w” put you in the rankings in the featherweight division?
I don’t know. We have to wait and see. One step at a time. I am focused on Ricardo. All I am focused on is him. I am just focused on getting my hand raised Saturday night.
You are on an incredible eight fight winning streak. What has been the best moment from this crazy run you are on?
I think the Cub fight is the most notable. A lot of people were talking trash, thinking I couldn’t hang with Cub and once the fight happened it was the complete opposite. I think that fight has been the best of my current run.
You are from a small town in on the west side Oahu where most people look down on people from that particular area. You rose above it all and fought through so much adversity growing up to now be fighting for the largest MMA organization on the planet. That’s pretty amazing.
We like to joke with people about Hawaii that the headline news is “Mans Steps on Cockroach”. I’m from a little town, Waianae, on the west side of Oahu. It’s crazy there. People like to party there. People drink and do drugs. That area is very heavy on drug use. It’s not a great place to be but its home to me and I love it. There is a lot of bad but there is also a lot of good that comes from that area.
There are a lot of talented, not only fighters, but athletes that should be coming out of there but they fall in to the stereotype and that stereotype eats them alive. I didn’t let that happen to me. I am too mentally strong. I am representing all of Hawaii. Representing the islands is great. It has been a fun ride and I have been getting nothing but support from all of the Hawaiian Islands. It feels great to be in this position.
What was it about you that made you not become one of those statistics? What made you different?
It’s no secret that, growing up, my mom was a drug user. She was a drug user and my dad wasn’t around at all. My mom has been clean and sober for a bunch of years now. That’s great for her. I see these athletes from the area that I’m from that were supposed to be in the NFL or play professional baseball in MLB and they just don’t do it. It irritates me. They have all this talent and it went to waste. I was not going to let that happen. I was not going to waste my talents. I was going to go out there and show that even being from where I am from you can go out there and do it. You can do anything in the world.