Best Boxer In UFC?
Photo by Carmen Mandato/Getty Images
Former Featherweight kingpin and active BMF strap-hanger, Max Holloway, aims to recapture the 145-pound throne from Spanish phenom, Ilia Topuria, this Saturday (Oct. 26, 2024) at UFC 308 inside Etihad Arena in Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates.
There’s only one Max Holloway whose UFC career is really unlike any other. This is a man who debuted inside the Octagon at just 4-0 at 20 years of age against freaking Dustin Poirier. That type of savage introduction breaks a lot of prospects, but it’s a blip in the radar on the incredible 29-fight (and counting) UFC career of the “Blessed” Hawaiian.
There are so many unreal moments stacked up left and right over the years. From the original point-and-bang versus Ricardo Lamas to the legendary follow up opposite Gaethje, Holloway has proven himself special time and time again. Does anyone even remember his stoppage win over Anthony Pettis at this point? Great showings get lost to time because he just keeps replacing them with a boxing masterclass over Calvin Kattar or “Fight of the Night” slugfest with “Korean Zombie.” It’s worth noting, however, that Holloway will need every bit of his greatness to dethrone Ilia Topuria, who genuinely might be the best fighter to rise through the ranks in the last decade.
Let’s take a closer look at his skill set:
Striking
There are so many aspects to boxing that it’s impossible to declare a fighter outright the best boxer in the UFC. Someone is the best at combinations, someone is the best at head movement, some else is the best at advancing forward with their feet beneath them — you get the idea. Holloway certainly has a strong overall case for the title, but there is one aspect about Holloway that is undeniable: the Hawaiian is a statistical anomaly, the undeniable king of volume.
The tricky part with breaking down Holloway is that he’s changed so much over the years. For a couple years, he landed the spinning back kick to great effect then abandoned it for much of his title reign. It seemed unimportant in 2024 ... until it made a sudden and dramatic reappearance against Justin Gaethje, smashing his nose to pieces and winding him to the body as well.
Still, this section will aim to mostly focus on Holloway’s last couple years of kickboxing rather.
Dating back to his original title win over Jose Aldo, feints and straight shooting have been the core of Holloway’s game. In that bout a one-two, pull, one-two combination ended the Brazilian’s night — utterly classic Holloway. Watch closely, and you’ll see Gaethje unravel beneath the same type of touch, pull, return combinations.
It takes mastery to execute so well and so often at Holloway’s pace.
Boxing begins with the jab, and Holloway uses his jab quite well to control range. Opposite shorter men looking to close the distance — a fair number of his foes — Holloway’s footwork and jab are enough to maintain distance. Against fighters willing to strike from the outside, Holloway moves in behind his jab well to set up his combinations (like in the above Jose Aldo .GIF).
Holloway’s ability to feint his jab is such a key to his overall success. He’ll feint the lead hand then actually fire the jab. He’ll fire the jab, feint it, then switch Southpaw with a right. He’ll feint the jab and punch a cross into the breadbasket. He does phenomenal work in feinting to get a read on his opponent’s defenses then immediately capitalizing on the openings available.
When combined with pressure and volume, Holloway’s feinting can be overwhelming. That’s precisely what happened to Calvin Katter, who found himself confounded by Holloway’s range work and pace.
Holloway did a lot of doubling up and hooking off the jab while circling towards his lead side. As Kattar’s guard raised, Holloway was inching his way to an advantageous angle, lining up his rear shoulder for the cross. After establishing that combination, Holloway would instead follow up with a hard power kick to the thigh or head, and he’d make use of this strategy from both stances.
Alternatively, Holloway would stay on Kattar, particularly as the damage began to build. After raising his foe’s guard, Holloway would weave punches through, like body shots or slick uppercuts. Kattar would usually fire back at that point, but Holloway remained well prepared to pull back then go right back to combination punching.
His foe never looked comfortable in the 25 minute contest.
In general, hooking off the jab is a signature technique of Holloway. Holloway digs to the liver off the jab commonly, and his right hand that follows the jab-hook has a great chance of landing. One of Holloway’s most consistent strategies is body work, which builds upon his usual range and cardio advantages. As he shifts stances and confuses his foe’s defense, he’ll look to time his opponent leaning back or covering up high with strikes to the mid-section.
Holloway is a smart kicker with a wide variety of techniques. Round kicks are a classic element of his game that he uses in interesting ways. For example, he used a lot of right high and body kicks against Gaethje, which we rarely see between orthodox opponents because of the smaller available targets on the closed side. In this case, Holloway was using the strike after getting Gaethje moving, catching him on the end of combinations.
In a more common variation, Holloway will also take advantage of being in the opposite stance of his opponent and attack with power kicks to the body (GIF). Thanks to his ability to shift stances so fluidly while pressing forward, those body kicks can really surprise opponents.
Holloway’s side kick is an interesting part of his game. He uses it as a probing shot, a way to measure range. Often, it can also disrupt his opponent’s movement and make their own advance difficult. Given how hard keeping up with Holloway’s jab can be already, getting that lead leg jammed out of place can be quite frustrating.
As mentioned, the spinning back kick played a huge role in his fight versus Gaethje, who tends to hunch down in the pocket. Holloway used it well on the counter initially, timing Gaethje as he stepped into the strike. In other moments, he would attack with the spin as Gaethje moved towards the fence, ensuring “The Highlight” couldn’t fully evade the high-power shot.
Max Holloway's spinning kicks are lethal ️#UFC308 | Saturday, 2 PM ET | ESPN+ PPV https://t.co/lYfEWotcni pic.twitter.com/7GxASZ5I4f
— ESPN MMA (@espnmma) October 21, 2024
Wrestling
Holloway has not spent considerable time on his back in a long, long time.
Holloway really isn’t one to actively change levels and hunt for the shot or even look to trip from the clinch. However, he did utilize a step behind trip opposite Anthony Pettis, sliding his lead leg behind Pettis’ then backing him over it. It was a lower energy way to trip Pettis to the mat and further assert his dominance, as well as cause Pettis to burn up the gas tank by scrambling back to his feet.
Defensively, Holloway really does everything correct, and that begins with his stand up. Thanks to his good habits of maintaining a healthy distance — or hiding his ability to close distance with footwork — and keeping his feet under him, Holloway is rarely caught out of position and is difficult to shoot against. When his opponent does get in on his hips, Holloway will often feed his foe the single leg and hop back to the fence. Once there, he can widen his base and score with occasional punches and elbows until an opportunity to escape emerges.
Finally, Holloway does a very nice job limiting the amount of time he spends on his back. When he is brought down to the mat, he quickly bounces back up or wall-walks. While this does take a fair amount of energy, Holloway’s extremely deep gas tank is an eternal advantage. Meanwhile, his opponent — who’s likely been eating body shots the whole night — just did a ton of work with very little payoff, leaving him in prime position to eat more punches and kicks.
Against Volkanovski, Holloway was actually brought to the mat a couple times, mostly via the inside trip. He still managed to stuff more shots than not though, and he sprung up quickly whenever he was put on the mat. The Hawaiian’s hustle doesn’t stop just because the fight hit the canvas!
Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu
Holloway’s bouts rarely end up on the ground because he doesn’t want them there. When the brown belt is on his back, Holloway isn’t searching for submissions — he’s trying to scramble back to his feet. That said, Holloway has demonstrated at least one wrinkle of his submission game inside the Octagon. He’s become very aggressive with his high elbow guillotine choke, which is responsible for two of his UFC wins.
The first came at the end of a back-and-forth battle with Andre Fili. After hurting the Californian with a spinning kick to the body, Holloway moved in and fired off a combination. The wounded Fili shot in for a single-leg takedown, and Holloway seized the opportunity by snatching his neck and falling into the choke. When Fili attempted to roll out, Holloway continued to apply pressure and forced the tap (GIF).
A bit more recently, Holloway repeatedly attacked Cub Swanson with the same guillotine. Holloway rocked and dropped Swanson multiple times in their bout, and he usually followed him to the mat and tried to force the choke. In the third round, Holloway finally locked it in and advanced into mount. From there, he cranked on his opponent’s neck and broken jaw until “Killer Cub” submitted.
Conclusion
Holloway has a lot of tactics and tricks in his stand up arsenal. Comparatively, Topuria’s output is a bit more limited. It will be up to the veteran to choose the best weapons to stymie Topuria, because his offense is simply too dangerous otherwise. It will be extremely interesting to see how Holloway approaches “The Matador,” precisely because he has so much experience and so many tools.
Andrew Richardson, a Brazilian jiu-jitsu brown belt, is a professional fighter who trains at Team Alpha Male in Sacramento, California. In addition to learning alongside world-class talent, Andrew has scouted opponents and developed winning strategies for several of the sport’s most elite fighters.
Remember that MMAmania.com will deliver LIVE round-by-round, blow-by-blow coverage of the entire UFC 308 fight card right here, starting with the early ESPN+ “Prelims” matches online, which are scheduled to begin at 10 a.m. ET (simulcast on ESPNews at 8 p.m. ET), before the pay-per-view (PPV) main card start time at 2 p.m. ET (also on ESPN+).
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