Max Holloway suffered his third UFC title loss to Alexander Volkanovski four years ago.
Holloway (27-9 MMA, 23-9 UFC) defended his UFC featherweight title three times before losing it to Volkanovski (28-4 MMA, 15-3 UFC) at UFC 245. He lost their immediate rematch in a controversial split decision at UFC 251, which put him in a rough spot. However, Holloway climbed his way back to the title picture after back-to-back Fight of the Night performances against Calvin Kattar and Yair Rodriguez to earn the trilogy bout with Volkanovski.
Their first two fights were competitive, but Volkanovski put a stamp on their rivalry by shutting Holloway out at UFC 276. Was Holloway done? Absolutely not. That loss led to a three-fight winning streak – including an iconic last-second knockout of current lightweight champion Justin Gaethje at UFC 300.
Now, Holloway finds himself a week away from arguably the biggest fight of his career, a rematch with the returning Conor McGregor (22-6 MMA, 10-4 UFC) in the UFC 329 main event on July 11 at T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas (Paramount+).
“Self-belief is one hell of a drug. It’s one hell of a drug man,” Holloway told MMA Junkie on the four-year anniversary of this third loss to Volkanovski. “There was a bunch of people telling me after that fight that I’m not going to be able to do this, I’m not going to be able to do that. Maybe you need to call it quits. A lot of people were telling me I was done in the sport. The beautiful thing I know where I was. You have one off night, it sucks. Having one off night sucks, but if you’re having one off night on multiple days, then I understand. That was just one off night. People are going to talk, and you can’t listen. I know what it is. I know how great I can be and what I can do. Self-belief just proved it. I’ve got to do some great things after that Volk fight. After all the Volk fights. After every single Volk fight people told me I was done. After every single Volk fight we fought, people told me I was done. I love proving people wrong.”
“The more you tell me I can’t do it, the more I’m going to yell louder, ‘Just watch me.’ Have self-belief and do the work. Not everyone is doing the work. Some guys have self-belief but they’re not going out there and f*cking putting the work. But you’ve got to go out there and put the work. Put the work in and if your inner team is questioning you, then they’re probably not (in your inner circle). I understand there is a certain spot where you can tell people whatever. They’re going to tell you what’s best for you and they do care what’s best for you, but I don’t know how to explain it without being too hurtful. Believe in yourself and go out there and do the work.”
Holloway’s knockout over Gaethje at won him the BMF title, which he defended against Dustin Poirier at UFC 318, before losing it in his most recent outing to Charles Oliveira at UFC 326.
Now he tries to bounce back against McGregor, who defeated him by unanimous decision in a featherweight contest at UFC Fight Night 26 in August 2013.
This article originally appeared on MMA Junkie: UFC 329’s Max Holloway reflects on when MMA world told him ‘to call it quits’
Reporting by Farah Hannoun and Mike Bohn, MMA Junkie / MMA Junkie
USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect
