Max Holloway has endured a difficult 2018,

In this calendar year the Hawaiian has been booked for three fights, against Frankie Edgar, Khabib Nurmagomedov and Brian Ortega, but owing to a variety of reasons none of them have come to pass. Perhaps the most worrying of them all was the reasoning for his removal from UFC 226 in July against Ortega, as he was pulled from the card at the eleventh hour for displaying concussion-like symptoms.

However, despite a battery of tests no root could be determined as to his health woes. Now cleared to fight again, the UFC featherweight champion has opened up on the mental blows he suffered as he faced several struggles in 2018.

“It just helped me as a person realize that sometimes you gotta slow things down to get things back correct,” Holloway said to on the Good Show with Ben Ennis & JD Bunkis, via MMA Fighting.

Winter is coming 🦈 pic.twitter.com/VkJ9fyNVch

— Max Holloway (@BlessedMMA) October 11, 2018

“After this last one I dealt with some depression. I was talking about [NBA star DeMar] DeRozan. DeRozan talked about depression and that really shook me. He said that he wished that everybody was rich, that everybody in the world had money so they could understand that money does not make you happy.

“Depression is real and that really hit me hard. I was going through a phase where I wasn’t talking to no one. Only my son. Me and my son would do stuff but I was talking to no one. If I wanted to you I would call you but if people were reaching out to me I was putting myself away. Since I was in that situation, now I’m able to talk about it and I can tell people that’s not the way to do it. The way to do it is talk to your family, talk to your friends, be with everyone because you don’t know when things can change. Life changes on a dime so live life to the fullest.

“Don’t be scared to look for help,” Holloway said. “Depression is real. . . It’s crazy and all these guys, us athletes, that keep thinking we’re superheroes. I like to think I’m a superhero but superheroes got to fight their demons too sometimes.”