Max Holloway may no longer be the UFC featherweight champion, but 'Blessed' remains one of the most popular and successful strikers in the entire MMA world.
But how did the popular Hawaiian become one of the sport's most dominant strikers? Well, that origin story is so “ridiculous” that it once left Joe Rogan completely baffled and speechless.
Photo by Carmen Mandato/Getty Images
Joe Rogan was left speechless about Max Holloway's striking origins in the UFC
Max Holloway not only holds the record for most significant strikes in a UFC fight (445 against Calvin Kattar), but also the second record in that category (290 against Brian Ortega).
Still, his striking origin story is one of the craziest we've ever heard – and the same can be said for veteran UFC commentator and comedian Joe Rogan.
During an appearance on the JRE Podcast in 2019, Holloway revealed that he had never had a striking coach before joining the UFC.
“Do you really want to know what I did?” Holloway teased, while Rogan's ears perked up as soon as 'Blessed' asked the rather strange question: “Do you know the UFC game?”
“I would use Renan Barao and Jose Aldo, and I would do things with them, and I would say, 'Woah, this works in the game.'
“My boyfriend at the time, Dustin Kimura, would kind of handhold me, and I would say, 'Look, I tried this in the video game, and it worked, so let's try it'… And we did it. , I took it from the regular UFC game – the very first UFC game.
A stunned Joe Rogan understandably needed that last line to confirm: “What?! You would watch the video game [for tips]?”
“Yes – I was playing the video game and said, 'Oh look, I tried a combination, oh yeah, that works, so let's try it [in real life] – why not?! It has brought me this far.”
“That's so ridiculous,” laughed the popular podcaster, who a few years later would watch Max Holloway achieve the biggest knockout in UFC history.
Joe Rogan calls Max Holloway's UFC 300 KO the best in UFC history
Max Holloway had long secured his place in the Hall of Fame before he walked into the cage against Justin Gaethje at UFC 300; and then give him a whole wing all to himself.
“That's the greatest knockout of all time,” Rogan said on air after 'Blessed' put Gaethje to sleep with one second left on the clock.
“The fact that he called for that with ten seconds left in the fight and turned the lights off on one of the most dangerous men to ever fight in the sport… The fact that he did it this way too, that he pointed out the middle of the octagon, pointed to the ground and said, “Let's throw down here,” and then Justin Gaethje sleeps with one punch.
“My whole body panicked, I lost my voice,” celebrated Rogan, who rightly labeled the finish “the biggest 'Holy S***' moment of all time.”
“And I don't think there is anything there [else] that's close.”
Max Holloway is still an avid video game fan – you can find him streaming titles like Call of Duty and GTA via his Twitch channel @blessedmma.
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