Max Holloway Breakdown: The Mentality of a Champion Fighter

It's just amazing, you know, on paper, I was telling Sean them all day, like on paper, on paper, you put down my stats, no one's gonna pick me in a fight. What the fuck is this guy? Freaking next, you know what I mean? But then there's one thing, there's that mental part, and that hard part that you can't measure. You can't measure the mental whatever. And that's that crazy land part, you know what I mean? Like people don't know what the fuck crazy land is. If they see this guy like, okay, well he got a passport to crazy land, but this is his stats, all fucking, you know, out of 10, like threes. And then this is the guy, he's like nine, all nines, but he, maybe a couple of tens in there, but he don't have a passport to crazy land. They'd be like, fuck crazy land, this guy is great. And then when you go in there, you find out that, fuck, most of the time, the guys with the passport at the crazy lands, they're crazy, you know? They figure out a way to win. They figure it out, you know? Like the sum of all your parts is not that, like, that doesn't equal a championship fighter. Like the mind is such an important part of it. Important, and I was talking to them outside, back to that conversation. I was telling them, like, whenever I talk to an upper-comer or my friends, or I see people training, and they're training hard, or doing this and that, and I'm just like, bro, this is crazy. Like most of us in the UFC already, right? I was like, guys, there comes a point where, like, you're pretty much good. Like everything can get you by, you got here already. But now the only thing different that's gonna get you to the top 15 is mental. And then from 15 to 10, the only difference between those guys is mental. And then from 10 to 5, same thing. And then from champion and everybody else, it's a mental. It's a mentality thing. It's just something that to do with IQ and something, that's the only thing that changes. Like, we're all good. We're all at the mecca of fighting. The UFC is where everybody wants to be. But what makes you a champ, what makes me a champion, you not? Something gotta be it. You can live more ways than me, though. You know what I mean? Like, if we're the same way in class, you're stronger than me, you're faster than me. What is the difference? What is the difference? It's, I believe it's that passport. Crazy line. It's that mental. It's that thing. Like, I'm willing to do something that I don't know if you even thought of doing it or if it's presented with you that if you're gonna take that chance, you know? And it's that, but it's also you're willing to put the intensity into your training camps and the focus and dedication into your craft that maybe some people aren't. And maybe sometimes people that are really talented, things come a little too easy for them and they don't want to work as hard. Exactly. That's the downfall with a lot of these guys. A lot of these guys, they're just like all stars in their town and playing regular sports. You know what I mean? You see it all the time. There's all stars in the towns, whatever. And then they go to the other stuff and then to just another guy. Yeah. There's somebody that's faster, stronger, and better than you. You know what I mean? And then when they get there, instead of pushing through, they never had to. And then there's that kid that was like just always just kind of made the team. And then he's there with you and he sees that and he see you break and that pushes him. And now he's about, he's with those guys that's just, who's those guys who's freak athletes, but they all have the mind, but this guy don't have the freak athletes, but he get the mind and he's hanging with them because he's figuring out a fucking way to do it. You know? Yeah. Some of the toughest guys are younger brothers of tough guys. Oh, yes. Oh, because you had to take the shit. You got to take the shit. You know what I mean? Like it is like- And they become durable. Yeah. It was kind of backwards growing up with my brother. I'm the middle child, but my brother is four years older than me, my older brother. My younger brother is one year younger than me. But so it's kind of backwards. It wasn't like, my older brother wasn't really tough on us, but it was a point where my younger brother was such a spoiled little prick that he would always get me into trouble from my grandma. Like he would do, my grandma and grandpa, so he would do something and he'd cry and be like, no, I did it. So I would get the Lickens, you know? So I think that's where my mentality came by. Like I always was like, motherfucking young brother. So even when I fight with my younger brother, he would beat me because he was like, I was smaller than him. Like he'd beat me up growing up. The funny thing is, is like I told you last time, is that every time when I started getting the kickboxing and my mom was telling people like, hey, let's go. My son is going to go fight this week and he want to buy tickets. They'd be like, oh, cool. Who is Clem fighting? And then they'd be like, oh, no, Clem's not fighting. Max is. And they'd be like, what the fuck? Like Max don't fight. Why is he fighting? Why is he fighting? You know, but it comes because I just freaking, I got fucking so abused and stuff. I never thought of that. You just pointed out to me like my grandma and grandpa would give me like this guy, he would get away with murder and I always got it. And then whenever he do something stupid, like outside we play with our friends, it's like there's a place on our street where we couldn't pass. And my grandpa would like just be sitting in the gazebo and catch my brother coming back and being like, because he would go in the fucking main road. It's so stupid. There's a dirt road. I was like, bro, take the dirt road. Like grandpa was always up there drinking his beer. Take this damn dirt road so we don't want to get into trouble. He's like, no, no, no, no. Grandpa's not going to be there. But I know after all these years, I put together a motherfucking winter road because he wanted to see me get Lickens. So after the time he was like, Max made me go with them. I didn't want to go. And I would end up getting Lickens. It wrapped me up. I was like, bro, I didn't. You told me go. What are you talking about? Like the tables is turned. You're a little asshole, bro. What is he like now? He just, he's crazy. You know, he's, we had to deal with some stuff. You know, my family and stuff would come from drugs and whatever. My mom and stuff, except for my grandma and grandpa. It's great for them. But he got into this trouble and stuff. But he's recently like, he's been out. He's been cleaned. He's been doing his thing. So I'm proud of him. I'm happy with him. So it's like, it's not, I always tell him too, you know, it's not how you start the races, how you finish, bro. It's like, finish strong, bro. You got kids. You got focus now. I know you think you fucked up, but you never let nobody down here. You know, you got time and just make everything right again or try to go get as close as you can to making everything right again. That's great advice that you still have time. Spotify is absolutely free. You don't have to have a premium account to watch new JRE episodes. You just need to search for the JRE on your Spotify app. Go to Spotify now to get this full episode of the Joe Rogan experience.