Max Holloway is the UFC BMF champion but is strongly opposed to unnecessary violence outside the Octagon.
Holloway recently spoke out against the recent epidemic of gun violence in his home state of Hawaii. When asked about the shooting in West Oahu, the former featherweight champion urged Hawaiians to put their guns down and find other ways to solve the problem.
Holloway noted that resolving disputes with fist fights is better than using guns, and “Blessed” encourages people to go to the gym or play shooting games instead of picking up a real gun.
“This is the worst. Put the guns down, guys. Put them down,” Holloway told Hawaii news outlet KHON 2. “If you guys have a problem, solve it the old-fashioned way. Go to a boxing gym, put on some gloves, punch each other, shake hands and be done with it. I remember us getting into street fights when we were kids. I’m not saying you should do that, but shooting somebody is different. At the end of the day, stop the violence, go to the gym. Go do something, go lift weights. Go throw weights. Play a video game or something. If you want to shoot somebody, play Apex or Call of Duty or something like that.”
“We need to get the violence off our streets and think about the younger generations that are coming up. I know it’s the very young generation that is causing the violence right now, but we need to think about our younger brothers and sisters, our nieces and nephews. Let’s make the street a good place for them and keep trying. As for the West Side, let’s not be nasty. There’s enough bad news already. Let’s not add to it.”
After three failed attempts to win the title against Alexander Volkanovski, Holloway has not been a presence in featherweight title contention until recently. The Hawaii native faced Justin Gaethje in a lightweight BMF title fight at UFC 300 in April of this year. Holloway out-fought Gaethje in the fifth round before knocking him out with a buzzer-beater “highlight” in an iconic brawl that saw him point to the ground. Holloway is scheduled to challenge Ilia Topuria for the featherweight title at UFC 308 on October 26 at the Etihad Arena in Abu Dhabi.
