Max Holloway: I am going to do what I do best – strike
Max Holloway (5-1, 1-1 UFC) is one of the hottest and the youngest UFC prospects, at 20-years-old. The native Hawaiian hails from the same island as potential UFC Hall of Famer, BJ Penn. According to an interview with MMASucka Radio, Holloway has every intention of going farther in the fight game and thinks he can do better than his fellow Hawaiian: “I respect the guy. He is a legend you know? He’s the one that opened the door for all of us Hawaiians but he could do better. And he knows it too, some fights he comes in under-trained and he even says it. He’s a guy that pushed me to better myself, so he had too much talent and you hear of him in training camp not training and stuff then he gets tired and I don’t want to be like that. He’s got so many tools in the game and he doesn’t like to use it, I’m not as blessed as him so I have to work harder than him.”
Holloway began training at 16 in Waiainae, when a friend invited him to train with his coach one afternoon: “The community I lived in, there were a lot of fights, just a hectic community so you gotta grow fast. When I was 16-years-old I wanted to play Baseball but I had this friend who said he fought so I went over to his house to train and when I hit the speed bag the coach said I should come train.”
Holloway may seem like an underdog after his UFC debut loss to Dustin Poirier, but the 20-year-old more than made up for it with his defeat of Pat Schilling and tomorrow, he will once again step into the Octagon at UFC 150, for his first pay-per-view appearance to prove that he has what it takes against The Ultimate Fighter alumnus, Justin Lawrence.
The two fought on the same card at TUF 15’s Finale. Holloway went home with a Unanimous Decision victory and his first UFC win over Schilling, whereas Lawrence knocked out John Coffer in his debut and took home $100K in bonuses for Knockout of the Night and Fight of the Night.
On his opponent for tomorrow night, Holloway says: “He fought before me so I was in the back getting ready and I never thought he would be a 145-er, I thought he would stick being a 155-er so I didn’t get to scout him very much. I’m not taking anything away from him buy my striking is my best asset and I’m gonna do what I do best and strike. That’s what I plan on doing with anyone, I’ll always be striking because that’s what I’m good at.”
