Most vendors at card shows are hobbyists, side hustlers, or card show owners. At West Side Card Show III, one of them was a UFC champion. Max Holloway — Waianae’s own, former UFC featherweight champion and BMF titleholder — set up behind a table and vended his first-ever card show on the West Side, at the Kroc Center in Ewa Beach on June 6–7.
It’s hard to overstate how on-brand that is. The West Side raised Max, and The West Side Card Show is exactly the kind of grassroots event you don’t usually see a world champion show up to — let alone work a table at. Hosted by Rocket Relics, the third edition of The West Side Card Show put the West Oahu card community on the map for a whole new audience.
A celebrity at a card show usually means a roped-off signing line, security, and a headache for everyone else. This was different — Max was vending, which means collectors got to do the most normal card-show thing in the world with one of Hawaii’s most famous athletes: talk cards, dig through his product, and make a deal. People walked away with cards and a story about the time they haggled with a UFC champ.
The keiki ate it up. Throughout the show there were giveaways and free packs for the keiki, and one kid even pulled the new Darkrai SAR to cheers so loud people might’ve thought Max had just knocked out an opponent right there on the floor. For a lot of them this wasn’t just a card show — it was meeting a hometown hero who came up on the same West Side roads they do. That’s the kind of moment that turns a first-timer into a lifelong collector.
With 100+ vendors (food and drink included) and an estimated 9,000+ collectors through the doors across the weekend, this was no quiet, dig-through-the-bins kind of show — it was the biggest show we’ve covered yet. A roving MC crew worked the floor all weekend, pulling vendors and collectors into the action with hourly giveaways — every one donated by the vendors themselves, and every $2 ticket doubling as a raffle entry — and gimme gimmes that kept things lively. Clean, hyped, and fun for all ages. And the unofficial anthem, shouted from every corner of the building: “WEST SIDE, BEST SIDE.”
The generosity set the tone before anyone even walked in. Vendors @jlxtcg and @shakasoles paid it forward so the first guests through the door got in free — a small gesture that tells you exactly what kind of show this was.
One detail that set it apart from a lot of mainland shows: the after-hours trade night ran outside on the lanai rather than in a hotel ballroom. The food vendors stayed open from 7 to 10 PM after the floor closed, so collectors who wanted to keep trading could stick around into the evening.
The whole thing was the brainchild of Paul at @rocket_relics — the kind of organizer who greets you with a booming “Hooo, you frickin’ guy, dawg!” and means it as the highest compliment. But it was also built by everyone who believed in Paul’s vision a year ago, when he launched the first West Side Card Show with half the vendors, no experience, and nothing but grit and determination. Paul’s the first to tell you it took a village: West Side III was made possible by @fromthehearthawaii, @shophavenmae, and @ditzypulls — plus every vendor who donated a giveaway and every volunteer who put in the time to make the West Side’s biggest card weekend happen.
The local community captured the weekend better than we ever could. One creator got the shot everyone wanted — Max behind the table — and another put together a reel that bottles the whole West Side energy:
West Side returns for its fourth edition on December 5–6, 2026, back at the Kroc Center in Ewa Beach. Follow @rocket_relics for vendor sign-ups and announcements, or check the West Side Card Show series page for every upcoming date. If III is any indication, IV is one to circle on the calendar.
West Side IV is December 5–6, 2026 at the Kroc Center. Follow @rocket_relics for sign-ups.
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