"He got 'blessed' by being a pain in the a*s" - Chael Sonnen explains why he thinks Max Holloway 'did not bring anything' to Yair Rodgriguez fight
![Max Holloway (left) and Chael Sonnen (right) [Photo credit: @ufc on IG and YouTiube.com]](https://staticg.sportskeeda.com/editor/2021/11/97985-16368682276751-1920.jpg?w=500)
Max Holloway has earned another feather in his cap following an impressive victory over Yair Rodriguez in the main event of UFC Fight Night 197.
The Hawaiian star put on an outstanding performance that saw him become the first fighter in UFC history to land a total of 3,000 strikes in the octagon. However, it appears that Chael Sonnen is unimpressed with Holloway's win.
The retired UFC middleweight dismissed Holloway's achievement, believing that the former featherweight champ did nothing special. Sonnen chimed in with his thoughts in a video he uploaded to YouTube moments after the event. He said:
"That's what Max does. Max is the pain in the a**. They keep calling him Max 'Blessed'? He got blessed by being a pain in the a**. That's who he is. Max did not bring anything in this fight. And I'm hearing people. I just had to turn off the post-fight press conference being led by Dana [White]. Had to turn that off to come talk to you guys here. But even Dana in the post-fight is having a hard (time) getting anything together to put praise on Max aside from how tough this guy is, how scary he is, how out of his mind he is about protecting himself and instead just going forward and worry about the rest later."
Watch Chael Sonnen react to Max Holloway vs. Yair Rodriguez:
Holloway earned his second consecutive win after falling short twice against Alexander Volkanovski. He appears to be the front-runner as Volkanovski's next challenger, but has remained non-commital as to what he wants to do next.
Dana White praises Max Holloway and Yair Rodriguez
Unlike Chael Sonnen, UFC president Dana White had nothing but nice things to say about Max Holloway and Yair Rodriguez. Speaking to reporters during the post-fight presser, White said:
"Insane. One of the best fights I've ever seen. And the fact that Yair was off for two years, comes in and puts on a performance like this is unheard of. It was incredible. And then Max... I didn't think he was going to make it out of the second round with the calf kicks and he made it into the fifth round like he's probably not gonna be able to walk out of the octagon by himself. But he's walking around back there like nothing even happened. He said his leg is fine."
Check out Dana White's comments on Max Holloway vs. Yair Rodriguez: