“Oh yeah, every time,” Holloway said. “I finally get to punch somebody in the face and not feel bad for a couple minutes. After the fight, of course, you feel terrible, but going in there, you’re not feeling bad. I got teammates and coaches that I’m hitting during training camp, like ‘Aw man, I’m sorry.’ But when you go in there, it’s that same excitement. There’s hours and hours and hours that go into this that no one sees. At most, people get to see me for 25 minutes at most. That’s so little compared to the hours that I gotta put inside the gym.”
Frankly, it’s good to hear Holloway laughing, joking and generally feeling good about fighting, because that wasn’t necessarily the case before his UFC 231 bout against Brian Ortega in December. Returning for the first time in a year, Holloway had a hellish 2018 filled with injuries, canceled fights, and even a bout of depression. When it was announced that he was coming back to face the unbeaten Ortega, many wondered whether this was a changing of the guard at 145 pounds, with Holloway’s best days behind him. Shocking for a young man turning 27, but there was questions to be answered. It brought up memories of the first Evander Holyfield-Mike Tyson bout, when many feared for Holyfield’s safety against “Iron Mike.”
But then came fight night and Holyfield shocked the world. On December 8 in Toronto, Holloway did the same, putting on a master class in stopping Ortega in four rounds. Now “Blessed” has had big wins over the years, but was this the most satisfying?
“It was great, especially with how I started the year,” said Holloway. “You guys all heard about the fights, the fall-throughs, the depression and all that. But I’m a strong believer that it’s not how you start the race but how you finish, and we finished pretty strong and it was just a great win. To have all that, to have them saying this guy was gonna be my equal and be able to go out there and show the world what I’m capable of and why I’m one of the best pound-for-pound fighters in the world, it was just great to do.”
