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via Imago

via Imago

Former UFC featherweight champion Max Holloway is receiving commendations after his recent revelations about mental health struggles. Holloway made his first in-person appearance on ‘The MMA Hour’ recently and had a long chat with Ariel Helwani. During their conversation, the 31-year-old opened up about his own battle with depression and how he learned to open up about it to people.

Now, UFC legend Chael Sonnen is commending Holloway for dealing with his issues and putting on career-defining performances at the same time. The 46-year-old was thoroughly impressed with Holloway for the graceful way in which he dealt with his issues.

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In a recent video on his YouTube channel, the three-time UFC title challenger gave props to Holloway while discussing the featherweight’s upcoming fight.

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Chael Sonnen lauds Max Holloway for recent revelations

In his video about Max Holloway, Chael Sonnen said, “For a guy who went through what Max [Holloway] went through, and you didn’t know it… You didn’t know it because he never showed you… you never saw him hanging his head… he never had a bad competition and he blamed it on that.”

‘The Bad Guy’ commended Holloway for not shifting blame to his training, his nutritionist, or his wife. What’s more, Sonnen said that Holloway put on “the best performances that we saw during Covid.” He continued, “The best MMA that you saw in your life took place in Covid and the star of all of them… it’s Max [Holloway]. Max [Holloway] outperformed everybody.”

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Sonnen also mentioned how Holloway trained in his garage and improved his technique, making the most of his youth and maintaining his focus on fighting.

Read More“Even to Today, I Fight Myself”: Days After Israel Adesanya’s Netflix Documentary Premiere, Max Holloway Confesses on Personal Struggles in Tell-All Interview

To Sonnen’s merit, Holloway gave fans some of the most memorable fights during the pandemic. His record-setting fight against Calvin Kattar in January 2021 was an all-time classic. Later that year, he beat current interim FW champion Yair Rodriguez in another classic matchup.

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Holloway fights Chan Sung Jung next. Do you think he will give another dominant performance against ‘The Korean Zombie?’ Let us know in the comments.