Sunday marked the day UFC created history, with Max Holloway etching himself as the next BMF champion. The kicks were flying; the punches were hitting, hard. Max Holloway KOs were getting the best of the crowd as they were cheering at the top of their lungs. Brenden Schaub, the long-time MMA journalist, confessed “Max Holloway delivering the greatest knockout in combat sports history with literally one second left in the fight.”

The ripples of Max Holloway delivering one of the best KOs in the UFC could not stay away from the world of college football either. Caleb Downs, the fresh face at Ohio State Buckeyes, let his MMA fan side run wild as he took to Instagram to post about how thrilled he was looking at Holloways’ knockouts. “The point is wild,” captioned Downs, sharing a clip of Holloway brutally thrashing Gaethje to clinch the BMF belt, joining Masvidal and Gaethje as the UFC’s only fighters to claim the ceremonial BMF belt.

With the inspiration Downs is deriving from Holloway, the WR might aim for nothing less than the National Championship. The Alabama transfer has been trained under the best of the college football staff at Alabama since his freshman year, clinching the coveted spot of the National Freshman of the Year in 2023.

For Downs, Nick Saban retiring was a ‘huge shock’ to him. Which is why he entered the transfer portal and chose the Buckeyes. But was it an unplanned and spontaneous move to make? With the rumors of Downs entering the transfer portal again, the assumption does look like a possibility. Even if he goes someplace else, there is one thing that he will always carry with him: Nick Saban’s teachings.

What Nick Saban taught Caleb Downs

Getting a National Championship 2023 must not have come without some epic learnings for Downs, especially when they are coming from the best coach in college football ever, Nick Saban. “He was committed every single day to being his best self. Not many people can actually say that and be truthful with that,” Downs said about Nick Saban.

Further adding what qualities he picked up from Saban, he said, “He taught me a lot about commitment, about being disciplined, consistency – everything that goes with that. Being great, that’s what he embodies.”

However, with Kalen DeBoer handling the reins of Alabama pretty well, there are chances that Downs might return to Alabama, just like Kadyn Proctor did, and settle back there. Do you think that Caleb Downs would also follow a narrative similar to Proctor’s or would write his own story? Only time will tell.