He might be the reigning UFC featherweight champion and one of the best pound-for-pound fighters in the world, but it hasn’t all been sunshine and rainbows for Max Holloway.
After suffering with concussion-like symptoms in 2018, ‘Blessed’ was ruled out of his title defense against Brian Ortega at UFC 226 and was only able to fight once during the whole year.
With the inactivity came depression, and Holloway says that, while it was an incredibly difficult time for him, he matured as a person and got to ‘figure out’ many different things in his life.
”Man, the last fight [against Brian Ortega at UFC 231] was emotional,” Holloway told Sports Illustrated ahead of his interim lightweight title bout with Dustin Poirier at UFC 236.