This is the moment that Max Holloway has been dreaming of since he first threw a punch with mean intentions.
Holloway, the UFC’s latest featherweight king, has returned to his native Hawaii after defeating José Aldo by third round TKO in their UFC 212 main event and he was received by throngs of fans who gave him a rapturous receptions when he touched down at Honolulu airport, which you can see below.
Now THAT'S a homecoming‼️ Hawaii welcomes their NEW featherweight champ @BlessedMMA & @YMedeiros home today ⬇️ pic.twitter.com/QDCms20UIY
— UFC (@ufc) June 6, 2017
The celebrations continued all the way to Waianae, Holloway’s hometown in a moment the fighter captured on his personal Instagram account.
The new champ, clearly very emotional at the occasion, gave the following interview to KITV.com:
“I was like, ‘Don’t cry, Max. You’re a fighter. Don’t cry.’ But I’m joking,” Holloway said. “Just overwhelmed, you know. We had something big inside there when we came off the plane. I was tripping how big that was. They were like, ‘This is nothing. The (University of Hawaii) football players is out there.’ I was tripping out. It’s surreal. You can’t put it in words. You got to be here to witness. This is one of those things you can’t put it on these cameras. You got to be here to witness and feel the energy.”
