Following his unanimous decision (49-46, 49-46, 48-47) victory over Arnold Allen at UFC Kansas City, Max Holloway used his post-fight press conference to share the details of his chat with Allen, “the nicest dude ever”.
As one of the most respected competitors in the sport for his pre and post-fight actions, Max Holloway kept that sentiment alive by sharing a friendly conversation with fellow charismatic featherweight Arnold Allen, who had just suffered his first UFC loss at UFC Kansas City.
“I told him you’re a legend, you’re tough,” Holloway said. “We’ll probably see each other a bunch of times so don’t worry, keep training.”. Allen shared his desire to come train in Hawaii with Holloway, but Max had some pragmatic thoughts on Allen’s proposition: “He said he wanted to come to Hawaii [for me] to show him around, but maybe after our career[s], because I have a feeling that we’re probably going to run it back”. Holloway doubled down on his praise of Allen, saying “he’s super good, he’s up there”, following this by speaking about how impressed he is by Allen’s IQ and composure through five rounds.
Following his praise of Allen, Max made sure to remind us that he’s still here, still beating the men that are supposed to give him the next toughest fight “I heard the same thing all over again about Arnold [is] going to break my chin, I’m too slow. We got to prove that wrong”
Max Holloway Prior Backstage Embraces
His backstage conversation was far from Holloway’s first time making a point to show recent opponents respect, win or lose. Following his fourth round doctor-stoppage defeat of Brian Ortega at UFC 231, a clip of the two men went viral after Holloway approached Ortega, who was still on his stool following the stoppage. “That was a hell of a fight. We should be friends probably!”. This moment was a testament to Holloway’s approach to the sport and the competition; uplifting the previously undefeated contender, who had closed as a favorite in their match.
More recently, after Holloway’s rematch with Dustin Porier for the interim 155lb belt, footage shows two embracing backstage. Max had a point to pay respects to Jolie Porier (Dustin’s wife) and their daughter, and mentioning his appreciation for their charitable work. Max donated his signed gloves from their match to Dustin’s Good Fight Foundation to help Dustin and Jolie raise the money to build a playground in Dustin’s hometown of Lafayette, Louisiana.
Featured image credits to Embed from Getty Images
