“We Don’t Even Have to Spar That Much”- Max Holloway Spills The Beans On UFC 251 Training Camp

Max Holloway will fight Alexander Volkanovski in the new main event of UFC’s first PPV at Yas Fight Island. The Featherweight title clash took top billing as Gilbert Burns tested positive for coronavirus which resulted in his fight against Kamaru Usman getting scrapped. The former Featherweight Champion has been training in isolation and elaborated on the same. 

In a chat with Ariel Helwani of ESPN MMA, Holloway revealed that he had to prepare for his UFC 251 showdown via video calling platform Zoom. 

He said, “Everything we was doing was through Zoom. If you got caught at the gym, because there was a lockdown and stuff, we could all get arrested. It was a little bit more a sacrifice for me on my end if I went there. You know they gonna make a point. They see my butt out there, they be like ‘Yeah, let’s get this guy. Let’s make a point and put fear into other people.'”

Max Holloway labels UFC 251 training camp as the best he has had

The Hawaiian fighter brands his training sessions as smart and claims to have done all he could given the circumstances. ‘Blessed’ revealed that the one thing he missed was the treadmill that he usually uses. However, he added, “We figured it out and I think this is one of the best camps I ever had.”

The Featherweight fighter also shared that this was the first time he went through training without sparring. He reasons out that it was to stay safe as fighters or cornermen testing positive will result in a missed opportunity on a payday. Already, Ronaldo Souza pulled out of UFC 249 at the eleventh hour due to a positive corona test. 

Holloway concluded the point by indicating that he could employ such training methods in the future as well. He said, “I love sparring. But this camp actually opened my eyes. We don’t even have to spar that much anymore. I’m at a point in my career, I know how to punch, I know how to kick. I know how to apply it.”

Do you see Max Holloway being able to recapture his belt which he lost at UFC 245 to ‘Great.’ Also, what do you make of the theory of not having to spar as experience makes a fighter aware of the application?

“This Belt Ain’t For Me It’s For Hawaii”- Max Holloway