LAS VEGAS – Loud and clear, it was a family affair for [autotag]Kurt Holobaugh[/autotag] as he won Saturday at UFC on ESPN 60.
As Holobaugh (21-8 MMA, 2-5 UFC) defeated [autotag]Kaynan Kruschewsky[/autotag] (15-3 MMA, 0-2 UFC) by unanimous decision at the UFC Apex, his wife and two sons were very audibly rooting him on.’
“I can definitely hear them and that’s how they are in the gym when I’m sparring,” Holobaugh told MMA Junkie and other reporters at a post-fight news conference Saturday. “My youngest son is always trying to holler instructions and to do spinning kicks and stuff like that. It’s always fun, but I love it.”
Holobaugh said it was the first time his children got to watch him fight in the promotion from cage-side, as the promotion recently implemented a new policy where each fighter gets four cage-side seats for their fight at the UFC Apex.
The family’s energy stems from passion for their father and husband, but also for the sport. Holobaugh says his sons have been in the gym since before they could walk – literally.
“Our youngest, that’s our four-year-old,” Holobaugh said. “Me and my wife both own two mixed martial arts gyms. From the very first day he was born, we went back to work. So we brought his crib to the gym. He’s in the gym every single day. He’s been training jiu-jitsu since he could literally walk. There are videos out there of him training jiu-jitsu when he just started walking. He’s still training jiu-jitsu and competing all over the world. He just competed in Las Vegas a couple weeks ago.”
While Holobaugh is the first of his surname to compete in the UFC, he may not be the last. Holobaugh’s 13-year-old son, Zayden, has already competed in eight youth MMA fights. His four-year-old son, Raiden, is a bit of a TikTok sensation.
“All of my kids fight, even my 13-year-old. He has like eight fights inside the cage already at 13 years old. But my four-year-old, being that he does a lot of competitions. We posted a video and it went viral. There were fighters like Jon Jones and all the big names commenting on it. So he went TikTok famous. He’s got like 30,000 followers on TikTok that all follow his journey as well. This is just another big part of his journey and it’s amazing.”
It’s still years out from another Holobaugh potentially stepping foot inside the UFC. So for now, Holobaugh aims to keep making his children the cool kids at school.
“I think it’s special,” Holobaugh said. “It’s once in a lifetime opportunities for kids to do that. I feel like this is why I love doing what I do so much. It’s because of my kids. I feel like they get to be the cool kids at school. They get to go to school and say, ‘Hey, my dad is in the UFC, or, ‘My dad just won ‘The Ultimate Fighter.’ He fights on TV.’ Now, my kids get to actually come and watch a UFC event cageside, basically. How many kids at their school wish they could even go to a UFC event. I feel like we’re so blessed with these opportunities.”
For more on the card, visit MMA Junkie’s event hub for UFC on ESPN 60.