Max Holloway Learned Striking Techniques From UFC Video Game (Video)

Former UFC featherweight champion Max Holloway is one of the best strikers in the sport, let alone his division. However, he learned his techniques from an unusual source.

Appearing on Joe Rogan’s podcast earlier this week, “Blessed” revealed how he didn’t have a striking coach for his first seven professional fights. So how did he end up becoming one of the truly elite strikers in the game?

Playing the UFC game apparently helped him go on his way:

“You really want to know what I did? You know the UFC game? I’d use Renan Barao and Jose Aldo, and I would do stuff with them,” Holloway said. “I’ll be like, ‘holy hell, this works in the game!’ So my friend at the time, Dustin Kimura, he would kind of hold mitts for me and I’d be like, ‘look, I tried this in the game and it was working. Let’s try it.’ And we did it. I figured it out from the regular UFC game. The first-ever UFC game.”

Rogan was blown away by Holloway’s revelation as “Blessed” expanded further:

“I would play the video game and be like, ‘oh, look at this.’ I would try the combination, and I would be like, ‘oh, this kinda works so let’s try it.’ Why not? It got me that far.”

Holloway would eventually get a striking coach and it certainly paid dividends for him.