'That's so ridiculous'… Joe Rogan was left speechless after Max Holloway revealed his UFC striking origins
12/28/2024 09:54 AM
Max Holloway might 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 dumbfounded and lost for words.
Joe Rogan left speechless at Max Holloway's UFC striking origins
Max Holloway not only holds the record for most significant strikes landed in a UFC fight (445 versus Calvin Kattar), but also the second-ranked record in that category (290 versus Brian Ortega).
Yet his striking origin story is one of a craziest we've ever heard – and the same can be said for veteran UFC commentator and comedian Joe Rogan.
During a 2019 appearance on the JRE Podcast, Holloway revealed that he'd never had a striking coach before entering the UFC.
"Do you really want to know what I did?" Holloway teased, with Rogan's ears picking up as soon as 'Blessed' asked the rather strange question – "You know the UFC game?
"I would use Renan Barao and Jose Aldo, and I'd do stuff with them, and I'd be like 'Woah, this works in the game'.
"My friend at the time, Dustin Kimura, he would kind of hold mitts for me, and I would be like 'Look, I tried this in the video game, and it was working, so let's try it'… And we did it, I figured it out from the regular UFC game – the first ever UFC game."
A stunned Joe Rogan understandably needed that last line confirming: "What?! You would watch the video game [for tips]?"
"Yeah – I would play the video game and be like 'Oh look at this, I tried a combination, oh yeah that kind of works so let's try it [in real life] – why not?! It got me that far."
"That is so ridiculous," laughed the popular podcaster, who several years later, would watch Max Holloway land the greatest knockout in UFC history.
Joe Rogan names Max Holloway's UFC 300 KO as the greatest 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 after, heck, give him an entire wing all to himself.
"That's the greatest knockout of all time," Rogan said during the broadcast after 'Blessed' put Gaethje to sleep with one single second left on the clock.
"The fact that he called for that with 10 seconds left in the fight and put the lights out 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 to the center of the octagon, pointed to the floor and said, 'Let's throw down right here' and then sleeps Justin Gaethje with one punch.
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"My whole body was freaking out, I lost my voice," celebrated Rogan, who rightly labeled the finish as "the greatest 'Holy S***' moment of all time."
"And I don't think there's anything [else] that comes close."
Max Holloway is still an avid fan of video games – you can catch him streaming titles like Call of Duty and GTA via his Twitch channel @blessedmma.
