Max Holloway has had a storied UFC career, as he is one of just four fighters to capture the featherweight title. ‘Blessed’ recently opened up on his troubled upbringing, sharing that his mother was addicted to crack cocaine.
Speaking to Ariel Helwani of The MMA Hour, the No.2-ranked featherweight revealed:
“I go home, I grab this bandana – thinking at that time you wanted to be a ninja, you put it on your head or you put it on like a cowboy – pulled this thing off the shelf, and a freaking crack pipe hits the ground. I see it, and I’m like, ‘Holy s**t. What the h**l?’ I’m putting it together, like ‘Wow.’ At first I was like, what is this?”
Holloway continued:
“I put the bandana back, and one year later, sixth grade is the D.A.R.E. program, and I found out like, ‘Holy s**t. That’s a crack pipe. What the hell is going on?’ I didn’t know.
“It was insane, but I saw some stuff you’re not supposed to see. Like my mom fighting with her siblings and stuff in front of us when we were kids. To me, this is normal… There’s just things I feel like I had to go through, I had to endure, so I can get my story out later on.”
Check out Max Holloway’s full comments on his upbringing below (starting at the 18:00 mark):
Holloway added that he was raised by his grandparents as his father wasn’t around, and his mother would disappear for days at a time before appearing at his baseball games. He noted that she has been clean for quite some time after a threat from his brother that she would not be in her grandchildren’s lives if she didn’t make an effort to change her ways.
Alexander Volkanovski discusses Max Holloway’s path to a title shot
Alexander Volkanovski has defeated Max Holloway three times for the featherweight title. No other featherweight has defeated ‘Blessed’ since Conor McGregor in August 2013.
Speaking to David Adesanya, ‘The Great’ revealed how the No.2-ranked featherweight could earn another title opportunity, stating:
“What does he have to do? I don’t know, at the end of the day, anything is possible. It’ll be definitely harder to sell me on it now… It’s a tricky situation for him. I’m guessing he’s hoping that I just lose to Yair Rodriguez or something like that and hoping that I move up. It’s a tricky one, I don’t know what he needs to do.”
Check out Alexander Volkanovski’s comments on Max Holloway below (starting at the 22:02 mark):
Volkanovski will face Yair Rodriguez at UFC 290 this weekend as he looks to defend his title for the fifth time. Holloway, meanwhile, will face ‘The Korean Zombie’ in August.
