Max Holloway Talks Making A Difference With Friend NFL Quarterback Marcus Mariota

If it wasn’t for Philadelphia Phillies outfielder Shane Victorino, Atlanta Falcons quarterback Marcus Mariota and UFC featherweight Max Holloway would have never met.

The three met at now closed Alan Wong’s in Honolulu, Hawaii in March 2019 – all three athletes are from the island, which led Victorino to think that Mariota and Holloway “should be best friends.”

It turns out that they did.

Victorino also brought in NFL linebacker Kamu Gruiger-Hill and MMA fighter Yancy Medeiros. They all began to talk about growing up on the island and how they wanted to give back, which is what helped jumpstart their professional careers.

They also talked about failure in their careers.

But at the time, Mariota and Holloway hadn’t experienced it – yet. Two years later, Holloway lost his featherweight title and Mariota lost his starting quarterback position for the Tennessee Titans.

“Every athlete goes through that,” Mariota said.

“And being able to understand and just be a voice of support.”

But Mariota and Holloway’s friendship didn’t stop there.

Mariota texts Holloway before and after every fight while Holloway gets angsty for Mariota when he pays because he understands the nerves.

Though, there’s some things that the two don’t understand about one another like Holloway accepting to get hit in the face for a living or Mariota anticipating to be thrown to the ground by a 300-pound human.

Still, they always find themselves there for each other.

“A lot of our things that we treasure, things that we love and we respect, our goals and things we wanted to do for Hawai’i, it all lines up,” Holloway said.

“It’s like, he wants to make a difference in Hawai’i, not only Hawai’i but the world, and I want to make a difference.”