Max Holloway - The Best is Blessed

 

Happy New Year people - It's admittedly been a while. We're in the midst of a global pandemic and I've been lacking motivation but Jesus Christ and Mother Mary, Max Holloway just woke me the fuck up. I couldn't in good conscious not write something about him after what I just saw. You see a while ago, I told myself I was gunna commit to scribbling pieces about some of my favourite fighters every so often. Cos why wouldn't I want to pay homage to the people responsible for why I love this sport so much? 

Anyways, last Saturday we saw something SPECIAL. Max Holloway put on what I have to say is the most clinical striking performance I've ever seen in MMA. Calvin Kattar is no joke. He's a fighter I've had my eye on for a while. Max made him look like a non ranked Bellator fighter -  so yeah... maybe overdue but I saw it more than fit to show one of my favourite fighters ever some love. 

 

A diamond in the rough 

Max Holloway made his debut in the Hawaiian MMA promotion X-1 and went 4-0 in his first four professional fights. Against arguable competition admittedly, but at just 19 years old he began to attract attention from several media outlets as a serious prospect as a featherweight. He debuted in the UFC at 21 and went 3-3 in his next six fights, the harsh booking nature of the promotion saw him fight future all time greats Dustin Poirier and Conor McGregor, losing to both pretty convincingly. Then, greatness began. 

After losing to McGregor in August of 2013, Max barely lost a round until his rematch with Dustin Poirier in April of 2019. More on that later - Max was able to rebound from the first two fight losing skid of his career by knocking out Will Chope in convincing fashion. After a hot and cold start to his UFC career, the flashes of brilliance he had shown in the infancy of his tenure had began to really show, a layered jab, sound pressuring footwork, a committed body attack. He even showed the ability to pass guards on the ground against Justin Lawrence. 

The climb

By now, seven fights into his UFC career, we knew what he was good at. The thing with Max is that he seemed to learn something new every time he stepped into the cage. By the time he fought Ultimate Fighter alumni Cole Miller in February of 2015, he had fought four times in 2014 and picked up four finishes. Showing more wrinkles in his game, like previously mentioned. A lethal choke game, the ability to diffuse pressure with his own footwork, an understanding of feints and combination striking.

Following finishes of WEC veteran Cub Swanson and future lightweight contender Charles Oliveira, Max had won seven fights in a row and had started to force his name into talks in regards to the top of the division. Featherweight has always been one of the most stacked divisions in the UFC if not MMA period and Max had comfortably gone about dispatching everyone put in his path, young fighters looking for a boost up the ladder or established veterans looking to hang onto their spot in the rankings, it didn't matter. 

Despite his obvious talent Holloway wasn't exactly a blue chip prospect when he entered the UFC. He didn't have the hype like young stars before him like Jon Jones. He wasn't an accomplished free agent like Conor McGregor. He was a tough as nails Hawaiian kid who knew how to fight. Every fight his technical depth and understanding of MMA grew exponentially. He knew how mitigate his flaws, making up for a lack of concussive power by melting fighters with volume, pace and layered offence. 

Blessed Express gains steam

I could go on and on and on about how Max won six straight rounds in back to back lop sided decision wins against Jeremy Stephens and a borderline-ish elite Ricardo Lamas. Neither of them were in Holloway's class for lack of a better term. Neither could deal with Holloway's threats. They lacked the footwork both offensive and defensively. Holloway picked them both off at range and in the pocket, winning initiating and winning exchanges at will. Threading his jab beautifully, using it as a tool to counter, lead and set up flurries. I could go on forever about these two fights. But I won't cos this one is gunna go on for a while anyways. So let me get into one of the best title runs in UFC history. 

Holloway was given an interim title shot against former 155lb champion Anthony Pettis. A flashy kickboxer with a dangerous ground game but also a fighter without much defensive nous or in fight intangibles. Holloway tooled him. Pettis' southpaw kick heavy style and absence of defensive depth meant he had no answer for Max. Straights off of Pettis' kicks, longer combos and punches to the body whenever Pettis retreated in a straight line. Counter kicking and touching the body as punishment for naked kicks. Pettis has always had issues when his opponents forces him to fight at a pace he's no comfortable with and he is always too content to allow himself to be walked onto the fence (see the Diaz, Dos Anjos and Guida fights). Max Holloway had turned 25 not a week before this fight and he was showing a craft, offensive depth and IQ far beyond his years. The brutal body assault was too much for Pettis to handle and it was with just seconds left in the 3rd round that the fight was stopped. Ten straight wins in a shark tank of a division, Blessed was a champion. 

Conquering the King of Rio (twice)

At UFC 212 Max got his chance to become the undisputed champ against the greatest fighter of all time. After being knocked out by Conor McGregor at UFC 194, Jose Aldo put on the best performance of his career by shutting out fellow all time great Frankie Edgar at UFC 200. The King was back on top of the division but his reign would be short lived. At this point of his career, although still arguably the best fighter in the world, Aldo was somewhat removed from his prime. Years of injury and brutal fights had compromised his kicking game to the point where his offence was almost entirely predicated on his boxing.

The first round started as you might have expected with both men feinting and jostling for position at range. Aldo looked sharp and he won the first round pretty clearly, the exclamation point being a hard flurry mid way through the round but did he seem a bit twitchy off of Max's feints and throwaways. It was obvious Max was building for later, he had a reputation for coming on strong in later rounds and Aldo had a history of issues with cardio, even at his near flawless best. 

The second round was similar but higher paced. Aldo landed the bigger shots and his defence looked very good in spurts, but Holloway was starting to string together more combinations. More volume. He was landing more than he did in the first round and Aldo's reactions to his feints were still too twitchy for him to stay safe down the stretch as the pace kinda started to get too much for him as the round wained. Max began to layer his jab, initiate more exchanges even when he wasn't getting the best of them and throw kicks of his own. Despite being two rounds down Holloway somehow looked to be in control.

Holloway came out for the 3rd round wide eyed. He had the bit between his teeth and he knew he had Aldo where he wanted him. He was getting reactions from every feint he threw, so he started to commit and land at basically at will. He countered Aldo at mid range and in the pocket on practically every exchange. Just over two minutes into the 3rd round Holloway knocked Aldo down with a gorgeous 1-2 that he set up with an identical non committal. He finished him on the ground with strikes. He was the new King and he'd beaten the best fighter of all time to gain that crown. 

Six months later the two greatest featherweights of all time had a re match. Admittedly not as exciting as their first fight, Aldo took the fight on short notice when Frankie Edgar dropped out of his scheduled fight with Holloway. Max came into this fight knowing a few things: 1. Aldo couldn't match his pace. 2. Aldo wasn't durable as he was. 3. He could take Aldo's best shots with minimal consequence. Meaning Aldo wouldn't be able to jam Max mid combination as Max didn't respect his power. Max pushed the pace a lot more in this fight than he did in their first match up. He weaponised his pace and volume against an Aldo who would prioritise defence and outfighting more than usual, regardless though, it wasn't enough and in the 3rd round Max once again brutally finished the aging former champion. 

Title Defences and a ''slump''

Injuries and horrible weight cuts meant that Max spent an entire year away from fighting. He returned at UFC 231 to fight the streaking grappling ace Brian Ortega who was 14-0 at the time. The fight wasn't close. Ortega had his moments, he tried to stunt Max's combinations with stiff counters but Max didn't respect his power enough for that to work. Max overwhelmed Ortega with combination after combination, this was one of the most vicious displays of pace and output ever and the best performance of Max's career so far. Ortega's his defence and movement were just too many steps behind and he was caught out of positon and trapped by Holloway far too often. Max sniped him with long flurries to the head and battered his body as he retreated with a rudimentary high guard. Before the 4th round Max told the commentary team he was gunna end the fight, he went on to break the record for significant strikes landed in a round before the doctor stopped the fight before the 5th round started. A legendary performance by a legendary fighter in his prime. 

It seemed as if he had outgrown the 145lb division. Aldo was beaten twice, Ortega was beaten and the likes of Zabit, Yair, Kattar and Volkanovski weren't quite ready yet. A fight for the 155lb interim belt was set up. A re match, Max Holloway vs Dustin Poirier. Two of the most lethal offensive boxers of all time. At UFC 236 they put on an absolute classic. One of the two or three best fights of the decade and one of the most brutal fights I've ever seen in any combat sport. In my opinion Holloway's volume and work rate did enough for him to get his hand raised in a fight that I scored 48-47 in his favour, the judges didn't agree. Which I have no issue with, Poirier's power was a serious issue for Max and his southpaw stance meant he had more joy than most at nullifying Max's jab. Poirier's jab and hook were both in gorgeous form on that night and he had Max hurt several times. Poirier was able to intercept Max's flurries with powerful counters in a way that Aldo and Ortega couldn't. For the first time in 6 years not only had Max been made to look human, he'd actually been beaten.

He rebounded in a mild affair against Frankie Edgar at 145lbs. In a fight where he seemingly prioritised defence, he looked gun shy and elected to outfight behind straight punches. A counter right uppercut to jam the shorter wrestlers shots and entries. However he wasn't throwing with the same volume and aggression that had put him in contention for p4p #1 for so many years. Perhaps this risk averse approach was residue from the punishment he'd suffered against Poirier. A dominant performance but not an exactly convincing one. He won this fight more on the virtue of just being better than Edgar rather than any kind of great game plan or excellent performance. 

The last UFC card of the year featured a changing of the guard. Alex Volkanovski, a big, strong, volume striking wrestler with excellent footwork, positional awareness and knockout power was the next challenge for Holloway. At UFC 245 they had a brilliant contest, Volkanovski kicked Max's legs constantly and darted in and out of the pocket with deft combinations at will. Max didn't check the leg kicks and on the day lacked the defensive awareness to protect himself from Volkanovski's volume and craft. The champion tough as he is fought back and managed to steal a couple of rounds, but it wasn't enough. Volkanovski had done more than enough to earn a decisive win and take the title. Was Max still shell shocked from the Poirier fight or was Volkanovski just better that night? I'm still not sure.

A re match was set up for UFC 251. Personally at the time I thought it was a bad idea because I didn't think Max would be able to make the necessary adjustments in such a short time. Especially when Max told the media that he had not been able to spar or train properly in the lead up to the fight. I was wrong. I was so so wrong. Guess who else got it wrong? The Judges. Max came out and fought beautifully. Against the biggest challenge of his 145lb career. He defended against Volkanovski's kicks by checking, shifting and counter kicking at every opportunity. He elected to outfight and build his offence off of his jab, throwing shorter combinations and stunting Volkanovski's entries with uppercuts, even sitting with him in the pocket at times and getting the better of the exchanges. He dropped his opponent twice, once in each of the first two rounds. All of the threats that Volkanovski troubled Max with in their first fight were addressed expertly by Max. The judges robbed Max blind as day. Volkanovski was given a bullshit split decision victory after clearly being outclassed. Everyone and their mother knew that Max had won this fight, social media completely exploded. Honestly, if you haven't seen this fight, go watch it and try to make a case for Volkanovski winning more than one round let alone three. It wasn't Max's night but this fight did so much in terms of raising his stock. Everyone knew he was still the champ.

The best striking performance in UFC history

So now Max was on the second two loss skid of his career. The top of the 145lb division is a bit clustered at the moment with the likes of Zabit and Yair spending extended time out of the octagon. A fight was booked between he and Calvin Kattar. A durable, slick boxer with true power and excellent fundamentals. Though I was excited for this fight off rip, I predicted this would be a tough out for Kattar due to his inability to deal with kicks at mid range. His footwork outside of the pocket is also kinda awkard and because Max has the best jab in the sport, I took exception to the fact that Renato Moicano gave him hell with his layered jab. Believe me I was not expecting Max to put on the show that he did. He took advantage of his superority at mid range, jabbing Kattar profusely and firing off combinations as he manipulated his high guard with ease. He pushed a pace I've never seen in any combat sport, throwing almost 750 total strikes, racking multiple 10-8 rounds (I scored round four as a 10-7) and gave us one of the most iconic moments in MMA history by screaming at the commentary team as he no-look slipped a five punch combo. Max slipped into a zone that I've never seen. One that I didn't know existed. He fired and fired and drew out Kattar's counters, he countered his counters, he punished his body at range and in close. Was he hit? Yes. All pressure fighters get hit. Max has one of if not the best chin the sport has seen, and Kattar is as durable a fighter as there has ever been. This wasn't a battle of will, it was a battle of skill and Max Holloway might be the most skilled fighter of all time. What Max did against Kattar was quite simply the most impressive striking performance I've ever had the pleasure of witnessing. I'm at the point where I'm struggling to convince myself whether or not Max has passed Jose Aldo as the greatest featherweight of all time. 

If you've made it this far then you're either a huge fan of Max Holloway or a very good friend of mine. Regardless I hope I've done enough to justify any superlative you may see about Max Holloway in the next few weeks following that performance. In the current MMA landscape Holloway is easily the apex of technical brilliance. He is quite literally the best fighter on the planet and a top 5 fighter in MMA history. Aside from Israel Adesanya I can't think of any fighter in MMA that possess the depth of technical craft he does as a striker. Even so, not only has Max demonstrated his skills for a longer time against better competition, but Adesanya does not weaponise his own physical advantages the way Holloway does. Anyways, I'm glad you took time out to take this in.

Next chapter in the fighter series coming soon... 

Written by @Atlas8s on Twitter