Max Holloway: the featherweight champion from Waiʻanae | Ultimate Fighter Reunion

Why fans still care

MAX HOLLOWAY is one of the busiest strikers the UFC has seen. He threw punches in volume, talked to the commentators in the middle of a fight, and turned up again and again against the best featherweights and lightweights of his time.

He was featherweight champion for two and a half years, and his last-second knockout at UFC 300 is one of the most replayed finishes in the sport.

Early life

He was born in December 1991. UFC.com and Sherdog give Waiʻanae, the town on the west coast of Oʻahu where he grew up, as his birthplace; some sources say Honolulu. He has an older brother and a younger sister. His mother worked several jobs, and his grandparents did much of the raising. He has called Waiʻanae “a beautiful but hard place”. He graduated from Waiʻanae High School in 2010.

Getting started

He started kickboxing at 15 or 16 (sources differ). The Hawaiian fighter Dustin Kimura brought him to Rylan Lizares’s gym, and Lizares later said he arrived with almost no ground game. He won his one amateur MMA fight, against Cory Rosa in March 2010, and turned professional on 11 September 2010 with a decision over Duke Saragosa. In March 2011, at the Blaisdell Arena in Honolulu, he won the X-1 lightweight title on a split decision over Harris Sarmiento.

Career chapters

1. 2010Turns professional in Honolulu
2. 2012UFC debut, at 20
3. 2014 to 2018Wins 13 featherweight fights in a row
4. 2017Beats Jose Aldo in Rio for the UFC featherweight title
5. 2019Loses the title to Alexander Volkanovski
6. 2021Lands a UFC record 445 significant strikes against Calvin Kattar
7. 2024Knocks out Justin Gaethje at UFC 300 for the BMF title
8. 2026Beats Conor McGregor at UFC 329

The early UFC years 2012 to 2013

His UFC debut, at UFC 143 on 4 February 2012, ended in a first-round submission loss to Dustin Poirier. In 2013 he lost a split decision to Dennis Bermudez and a decision to Conor McGregor, Who’s Who number 43 (story coming soon) in Boston.

The streak 2014 to 2016

From January 2014 he won 13 featherweight fights in a row, beating Cub Swanson, Jeremy Stephens, Ricardo Lamas and, in 2015, Charles Oliveira, Who’s Who number 26, who was hurt in the first round. In 2014 Ivan Flores joined his team as striking coach. On 10 December 2016 at UFC 206 in Toronto he stopped Anthony Pettis in the third round to win the interim featherweight title.

Champion 2017 to 2019

On 3 June 2017 at UFC 212 in Rio de Janeiro he fought the champion, Jose Aldo, Who’s Who number 38, in Aldo’s home country. Aldo hurt him in the first round, but in the third a right hand dropped Aldo, and the referee John McCarthy stopped it at 4:13. He beat Aldo again in the third round in Detroit that December. In 2018 he had to pull out of two title fights, including a lightweight bout with Khabib Nurmagomedov, Who’s Who number 1 that he took on six days’ notice, before Dana White, Who’s Who number 42 (story coming soon) announced he had been ruled medically unfit. In December 2018 in Toronto he landed 290 significant strikes on Brian Ortega, then a UFC record, before the doctor stopped it after round 4. He lost a lightweight decision to Poirier in April 2019, then beat Frankie Edgar in July.

Volkanovski 2019 to 2022

On 14 December 2019 at UFC 245 he lost his title to Alexander Volkanovski, Who’s Who number 32 on a unanimous decision. Their 2020 rematch in Abu Dhabi went to a split decision for Volkanovski, though Holloway outlanded him 152 to 144 and CBS Sports scored it for Holloway. Volkanovski won their third fight clearly in 2022.

Kattar 2021

On 16 January 2021 in Abu Dhabi he landed 445 significant strikes on Calvin Kattar from 744 attempts, the UFC record, including 141 in the fourth round. Late in the fifth round he turned to the broadcast table and told them he was the best boxer in the UFC. Guinness World Records lists the 445 as the record.

The BMF years 2023 to 2026

In August 2023 in Singapore he knocked out Chan Sung Jung in the third round, and Jung retired. On 13 April 2024 at UFC 300 he fought Justin Gaethje for the BMF title. His spinning back kick broke Gaethje’s nose in the second round, and Gaethje dropped him late in the fourth. With about 10 seconds left he pointed to the centre of the cage, the two traded, and he knocked Gaethje out at 4:59 of the fifth round. CBS Sports and UFC.com both named it the 2024 Knockout of the Year. In October 2024 Ilia Topuria knocked him out in the third round, the first knockout loss of his career. He kept the BMF title in July 2025 with a decision over Poirier in Poirier’s retirement fight, then lost it to Charles Oliveira, Who’s Who number 26 on a unanimous decision in March 2026. On 11 July 2026 at UFC 329 he beat Conor McGregor, Who’s Who number 43 (story coming soon) at welterweight when McGregor hurt his knee in the first round.

Style, technique and the corner

How he fights

UFC.com lists his style as Muay Thai. He is a volume striker: as of October 2026 he lands 6.92 significant strikes a minute, and he defends 81 per cent of takedown attempts. The analyst Connor Ruebusch points to his feints and layered combinations: jab feints to draw a counter, a left hook through the gap, a jab to the body to set up the overhand right. He works the body hard, landing 117 body strikes against Kattar. He lists the flying knee and the armbar as his favourite techniques, and both of his submission wins came by guillotine.

Teams and gyms

He has trained with Rylan Lizares at Gracie Technics in Honolulu, home of Hawaii Elite MMA, since his early career. Ivan Flores joined as striking coach in 2014. On the night of UFC 326 in March 2026, Pedro Sauer awarded him his Brazilian jiu-jitsu black belt.

Stories people still tell

1. The Blessed era.

   After beating Aldo in 2017 he said, “this is the ’Blessed’ era.”

2. Time of his life.

   Of the Kattar fight he said, “I was having the time of my life.”

3. The two knees.

   McGregor tore a knee ligament in both of their fights: his left in 2013 and his right in 2026.

Legacy

He holds the UFC record for significant strikes in a fight, held the featherweight title for two and a half years, and fights out of Waiʻanae. Lizares called him “a homegrown Hawaiian fighter”. In 2022 he married the professional surfer Alessa Quizon on Oʻahu.