Joe Rogan Heaps Praise On Max Holloway

UFC 218 was truly a special night for the promotion and its featherweight champion Max Holloway. History no doubt repeated itself as Holloway stopped the long-time former champion Jose Aldo with a third-round TKO to defend his UFC featherweight title in the main event.

Many fight fans believe that Aldo is one of the greatest fighters of all time, and the greatest featherweight to ever compete in MMA. Now that Holloway has scored two dominant wins over him firmly makes Holloway the man to beat in the 145-pound division.

Longtime UFC commentator Joe Rogan, who spoke recently on his JRE MMA Show podcast, believes Holloway’s win over Aldo didn’t just cement himself as the best featherweight on the planet but also as the best featherweight in history.

“Max Holloway’s performance was nothing short of masterful,” Rogan said (transcript courtesy of MMA Fighting). “Nothing short of masterful, the way he handled Aldo. He yelled at me after he got done with the first round, he looks at me and he goes, ‘The man is tired! The man is tired!’ He’s a motherf**ker. Max Holloway is a real f**king warrior, to the core. That guy relishes it, he loves it.

“When he was chicken-necking it at Aldo and he’s got his hands down and is talking s**t and stalking him, you could see it in Aldo’s face, like he was drowning. You could see the waves were coming and he knew he wasn’t gonna be able to dog-paddle for too long. Like, ‘Jesus Christ, how am I gonna be able to keep up with this guy?’

“He’s the baddest motherf**ker. I think he’s the best 145er ever. He might not agree with it yet because of the record, which I see his point, but the way he fights, the octagon I.Q. that he shows, his fight I.Q., his ability to find a weakness and see it, his predatory behavior inside the octagon, I think he’s the best. I really do. It’s so impressive to me.”

Holloway holds a 15-3 record and currently finds himself on a 12-fight win streak. On the flip side, Aldo has lost three of his last four bouts. Before that though, Aldo had compiled a 25-1 record including an 18-fight win streak.

“Aldo, in his prime, was spectacular and amazingly impressive. His flying knee first-round knockout of Cub Swanson, the knockout of Chad Mendes, the Urijah Faber fight where he brutalized Urijah’s leg, he’s unquestionably one of the greats of all time, but in my opinion, skill wise, Max Holloway has now surpassed him. I think he’s the best.”