The former UFC champ went for quite the ride recently.
Former UFC featherweight champion Max Holloway has spent his entire adult life cage-fighting. And most of that time has been spent fighting the stiffest opposition the sport could throw at him.
The Hawaiian made his pro debut at just 19-years-old and was signed to the UFC two years later. He’s fought 30 times in 12 years and currently holds a record of 23-7. Remarkably, all but one of those losses have come via decision. The other loss was a submission defeat to Dustin Poirier in Holloway’s UFC debut.
During his career Holloway has never been stopped with strikes. Despite eating his fair share of shots lately, he’s barely even been knocked down or seemingly dazed by punches.
However, Holloway’s iron chin has finally tasted defeat.
The fighter shared this ‘sad’ news on Twitter recently.
Sadly my “never been KO’d” streak came to an end.
I was blessed with the opportunity to fly with Blue Angels. Shoutout to number 7 pilot Griffin Stangel and everyone behind the scenes for the unreal experience. This once in a lifetime time ride I will never forget. Thank you pic.twitter.com/ptDEaztvEf
— Max Holloway (@BlessedMMA) August 16, 2022
Holloway was a recent guest of the U.S. Navy flight demonstration squadron The Blue Angels. The fighter shared footage from the cockpit, showing him laughing it up as an experienced pilot performs a number of hair-raising stunts.
Eventually the G-Force proves too much for Holloway (as it would any of us) and he is seen passing out.
“Sadly, my ‘never been KO’d’ streak came to an end,” he wrote online. “I was blessed with the opportunity to fly with Blue Angels. Shoutout to number 7 pilot Griffin Stangel and everyone behind the scenes for the unreal experience. This once in a lifetime time ride I will never forget. Thank you”.
Holloway’s most recent Octagon appearance was at UFC 276 in July. There he faced Alexander Volkanovski for the third time. Holloway was thoroughly beaten by the reigning UFC featherweight champion by unanimous decision, putting an end to their storied rivalry in the cage.
Holloway has lost to Volkanovski three times in three years. The first was a unanimous decision which cost Holloway the 145 lbs title. The second bout was a split decision loss.
Around those losses to ‘Alexander the Great’ Holloway has scored impressive wins over Frankie Edgar, Calvin Kattar and Yair Rodriguez.
With Volkanovski expressing his intention to vacate the featherweight throne and move up to lightweight, there’s a chance we’ll see Holloway fight for that belt in the near future.