Former Featherweight kingpin and lively BMF strap-hanger, Max Holloway, goals to recapture the 145-pound throne from Spanish phenom, Ilia Topuria, this Saturday (Oct. 26, 2024) at UFC 308 inside Etihad Enviornment in Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates.
There’s just one Max Holloway whose UFC profession is basically not like another. It is a man who debuted contained in the Octagon at simply 4-0 at 20 years of age towards freaking Dustin Poirier. That kind of savage introduction breaks a whole lot of prospects, however it’s a blip within the radar on the unbelievable 29-fight (and counting) UFC profession of the “Blessed” Hawaiian.
There are such a lot of unreal moments stacked up left and proper over time. From the unique point-and-bang versus Ricardo Lamas to the legendary observe up reverse Gaethje, Holloway has confirmed himself particular time and time once more. Does anybody even bear in mind his stoppage win over Anthony Pettis at this level? Nice showings get misplaced to time as a result of he simply retains changing them with a boxing masterclass over Calvin Kattar or “Combat of the Evening” slugfest with “Korean Zombie.” It’s price noting, nonetheless, that Holloway will want each little bit of his greatness to dethrone Ilia Topuria, who genuinely is likely to be the very best fighter to rise by means of the ranks within the final decade.
Let’s take a more in-depth have a look at his ability set:
Hanging
There are such a lot of facets to boxing that it’s not possible to declare a fighter outright the very best boxer within the UFC. Somebody is the very best at combos, somebody is the very best at head motion, some else is the very best at advancing ahead with their toes beneath them — you get the concept. Holloway actually has a robust general case for the title, however there’s one side about Holloway that’s simple: the Hawaiian is a statistical anomaly, the simple king of quantity.
The tough half with breaking down Holloway is that he’s modified a lot over time. For a pair years, he landed the spinning again kick to nice impact then deserted it for a lot of his title reign. It appeared unimportant in 2024 … till it made a sudden and dramatic reappearance towards Justin Gaethje, smashing his nostril to items and winding him to the physique as nicely.
Nonetheless, this part will goal to largely deal with Holloway’s final couple years of kickboxing relatively.
Courting again to his authentic title win over Jose Aldo, feints and straight capturing have been the core of Holloway’s recreation. In that bout a one-two, pull, one-two mixture ended the Brazilian’s evening — totally basic Holloway. Watch intently, and also you’ll see Gaethje unravel beneath the identical kind of contact, pull, return combos.
It takes mastery to execute so nicely and so typically at Holloway’s tempo.
Boxing begins with the jab, and Holloway makes use of his jab fairly nicely to manage vary. Reverse shorter males seeking to shut the gap — a good variety of his foes — Holloway’s footwork and jab are sufficient to take care of distance. Towards fighters keen to strike from the surface, Holloway strikes in behind his jab nicely to arrange his combos (like within the above Jose Aldo .GIF).
Holloway’s capacity to feint his jab is such a key to his general success. He’ll feint the lead hand then really fireplace the jab. He’ll fireplace the jab, feint it, then change Southpaw with a proper. He’ll feint the jab and punch a cross into the breadbasket. He does phenomenal work in feinting to get a learn on his opponent’s defenses then instantly capitalizing on the openings out there.
When mixed with strain and quantity, Holloway’s feinting might be overwhelming. That’s exactly what occurred to Calvin Katter, who discovered himself confounded by Holloway’s vary work and tempo.
Holloway did a whole lot of doubling up and hooking off the jab whereas circling in direction of his lead facet. As Kattar’s guard raised, Holloway was inching his strategy to an advantageous angle, lining up his rear shoulder for the cross. After establishing that mixture, Holloway would as an alternative observe up with a tough energy kick to the thigh or head, and he’d make use of this technique from each stances.
Alternatively, Holloway would keep on Kattar, significantly because the harm started to construct. After elevating his foe’s guard, Holloway would weave punches by means of, like physique pictures or slick uppercuts. Kattar would normally fireplace again at that time, however Holloway remained nicely ready to tug again then go proper again to mixture punching.
His foe by no means seemed comfy within the 25 minute contest.
Normally, hooking off the jab is a signature strategy of Holloway. Holloway digs to the liver off the jab generally, and his proper hand that follows the jab-hook has an ideal likelihood of touchdown. Considered one of Holloway’s most constant methods is physique work, which builds upon his common vary and cardio benefits. As he shifts stances and confuses his foe’s protection, he’ll look to time his opponent leaning again or overlaying up excessive with strikes to the mid-section.
Holloway is a brilliant kicker with all kinds of methods. Spherical kicks are a basic aspect of his recreation that he makes use of in attention-grabbing methods. For instance, he used a whole lot of proper excessive and physique kicks towards Gaethje, which we not often see between orthodox opponents due to the smaller out there targets on the closed facet. On this case, Holloway was utilizing the strike after getting Gaethje shifting, catching him on the tip of combos.
In a extra widespread variation, Holloway will even benefit from being within the reverse stance of his opponent and assault with energy kicks to the physique (GIF). Due to his capacity to shift stances so fluidly whereas urgent ahead, these physique kicks can actually shock opponents.
Holloway’s facet kick is an attention-grabbing a part of his recreation. He makes use of it as a probing shot, a strategy to measure vary. Typically, it might probably additionally disrupt his opponent’s motion and make their very own advance troublesome. Given how onerous maintaining with Holloway’s jab might be already, getting that lead leg jammed misplaced might be fairly irritating.
As talked about, the spinning again kick performed an enormous position in his battle versus Gaethje, who tends to hunch down within the pocket. Holloway used it nicely on the counter initially, timing Gaethje as he stepped into the strike. In different moments, he would assault with the spin as Gaethje moved in direction of the fence, guaranteeing “The Spotlight” couldn’t totally evade the high-power shot.
Wrestling
Holloway has not spent appreciable time on his again in a protracted, very long time.
Holloway actually isn’t one to actively change ranges and hunt for the shot and even look to journey from the clinch. Nonetheless, he did make the most of a step behind journey reverse Anthony Pettis, sliding his lead leg behind Pettis’ then backing him over it. It was a decrease power strategy to journey Pettis to the mat and additional assert his dominance, in addition to trigger Pettis to fritter away the gasoline tank by scrambling again to his toes.
Defensively, Holloway actually does all the things right, and that begins along with his get up. Due to his good habits of sustaining a wholesome distance — or hiding his capacity to shut distance with footwork — and retaining his toes below him, Holloway is never caught out of place and is troublesome to shoot towards. When his opponent does get in on his hips, Holloway will typically feed his foe the only leg and hop again to the fence. As soon as there, he can widen his base and rating with occasional punches and elbows till a chance to flee emerges.
Lastly, Holloway does a really good job limiting the period of time he spends on his again. When he’s introduced all the way down to the mat, he shortly bounces again up or wall-walks. Whereas this does take a good quantity of power, Holloway’s extraordinarily deep gasoline tank is an everlasting benefit. In the meantime, his opponent — who’s doubtless been consuming physique pictures the entire evening — simply did a ton of labor with little or no payoff, leaving him in prime place to eat extra punches and kicks.
Towards Volkanovski, Holloway was really dropped at the mat a pair occasions, largely through the within journey. He nonetheless managed to stuff extra pictures than not although, and he sprung up shortly every time he was placed on the mat. The Hawaiian’s hustle doesn’t cease simply because the battle hit the canvas!
Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu
Holloway’s bouts not often find yourself on the bottom as a result of he doesn’t need them there. When the brown belt is on his again, Holloway isn’t looking for submissions — he’s making an attempt to scramble again to his toes. That mentioned, Holloway has demonstrated a minimum of one wrinkle of his submission recreation contained in the Octagon. He’s grow to be very aggressive along with his excessive elbow guillotine choke, which is answerable for two of his UFC wins.
The primary got here on the finish of a back-and-forth battle with Andre Fili. After hurting the Californian with a spinning kick to the physique, Holloway moved in and fired off a mix. The wounded Fili shot in for a single-leg takedown, and Holloway seized the chance by snatching his neck and falling into the choke. When Fili tried to roll out, Holloway continued to use strain and compelled the faucet (GIF).
A bit extra lately, Holloway repeatedly attacked Cub Swanson with the identical guillotine. Holloway rocked and dropped Swanson a number of occasions of their bout, and he normally adopted him to the mat and tried to pressure the choke. Within the third spherical, Holloway lastly locked it in and superior into mount. From there, he cranked on his opponent’s neck and damaged jaw till “Killer Cub” submitted.
Conclusion
Holloway has a whole lot of ways and methods in his get up arsenal. Comparatively, Topuria’s output is a little more restricted. It will likely be as much as the veteran to decide on the very best weapons to stymie Topuria, as a result of his offense is just too harmful in any other case. It will likely be extraordinarily attention-grabbing to see how Holloway approaches “The Matador,” exactly as a result of he has a lot expertise and so many instruments.
Andrew Richardson, a Brazilian jiu-jitsu brown belt, is an expert fighter who trains at Crew Alpha Male in Sacramento, California. Along with studying alongside world-class expertise, Andrew has scouted opponents and developed profitable methods for a number of of the game’s most elite fighters.
Do not forget that MMAmania.com will ship LIVE round-by-round, blow-by-blow protection of your complete UFC 308 battle card proper right here, beginning with the early ESPN+ “Prelims” matches on-line, that are scheduled to start at 10 a.m. ET (simulcast on ESPNews at 8 p.m. ET), earlier than the pay-per-view (PPV) primary card begin time at 2 p.m. ET (additionally on ESPN+).
To take a look at the most recent and best UFC 308: “Topuria vs. Holloway” information and notes remember to hit up our complete occasion archive proper right here.
