A Day in the Life: Max Holloway's Pre-UFC199 Training Camp
HONOLULU (HawaiiNewsNow) - When Max Holloway enters the octagon inside The Forum in Inglewood, California at UFC199 on Saturday, the three-round bout is scheduled to last no longer than 15 minutes.
But preparing for those 15 minutes, during his pre-fight training camp, takes a commitment that few are willing to endure. In the weeks leading up to his bout with Ricardo Lamas, Holloway took Hawaii News Now inside that camp, demonstrating first-hand how much goes into those training sessions.
His work day begins at 10:30 a.m. inside Gracie Technics, a Kalihi jiu-jitsu facility managed by Rylan Lizares, one of Holloway's coaches. The first of his four workouts lasts just under two hours, and is meant to sharpen his wrestling skills.
Fellow UFC fighters Russell Doane and Louis Smolka are on hand, as are other members of Hawaii Elite MMA. After a short warm-up, the fighters take turns pairing with one another to work on specific wrestling situations that could arise on fight night... A night Holloway already knows he is ready for.
"I think Hawaii should be excited," Holloway says. "I think it's gonna be a great night. I go out there, as long as I take one step at a time, I stay focused, I can go out there and conquer the world."
His work on this day lens those words credibility; from Gracie he departs for tactical Strength and Conditioning in Kaka'ako, where he starts another 90-minute workout with a recovery session, stretching with the help of a foam roller.
Core work follows, as Holloway lies on his side and extends his body while holding a kettlebell high in the air. He then does plyometric explsoive jumps using different boxes before heading over to a modified treadmill, which allows users to strap themselves in order to run against resistance.
There, he times a series of resistance sprints to coincide with the 15-minute length of his upcoming fight.
After his work at Tactical is done. he heads back to Gracie for two additional hours of work. The first comes with Lizares, who traveled with Holloway to Los Angeles for the week of the upcoming fight.
The two spend the first hour working on the gameplan Holloway intends to use against Lamas on Saturday. When that's finished, Holloway joins a larger group to practice more on his jiu-jitsu, a work-out that won't finish until after 7 p.m., more than eight hours after his first one started.
"When you talk about grind, this is what grind looks like," Holloway says. "That's what makes people champion, that's what makes people different. You either want it or you kind of want it, and I want it all. I go out there, this kind of stuff needs to be done, you know, one step at a time. I'm not gonna let it conquer me, it might beat me down physically, mentally, but it's never gonna break my will."
After weeks of days just like this one, little remains but for Holloway to go out and conquer Lamas.
"I don't care if it's in an alley, or if it's in front of a million people," says Holloway. "I gotta focus on Ricardo Lamas. It's been great, I can't wait. I've been working on a lot of new stuff and I can't wait to go out June 4th and show the world what's up."
The fight can be seen on Saturday by purchasing it on UFC pay-per-view.
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