Blessed Man Forever at UFC 300
Max Holloway Makes History
Max Holloway is one of the greatest fighters of all time.
After putting on a career best performance against a surging Justin Gaethje he delivered perhaps the greatest knockout in the history of mixed martial arts. It was as if a maestro threw his hands up at the climax of a performance, and the band over-delivered on everyone’s expectations. Risking his 24:40 dismantling of the hardest hitter at Lightweight, Max Holloway forged a legendary moment.
Analysts and viewers were not confident in the Blessed one’s ability to threaten Gaethje enough to stop his offensive output. I had a different view coming into the fight, believing Holloway’s defensive adaptations were enough to keep him safe. Before we break down this performance, read about how well I predicted Holloway’s win before the fight:
With the understanding of Holloway’s evolution since the Volkanovski rematch, his success in this fight becomes all the clearer.
Disclaimer: The video clips included in this article are not owned by the author. They are included for educational purposes only to illustrate key moments in the fighter’s career and demonstrate aspects of mixed martial arts techniques and strategies. All rights to the video content belong to their respective owners.
Strategic Savant
This fight looked nothing like Max Holloway’s first attempt to win a belt weighing 155 pounds. Max Holloway was no longer dwarfed by his Lightweight adversary. Where he was once fluffy in the Poirer rematch, Holloway filled his frame and looked just as physically imposing as Justin Gaethje. Holloway did not rely on his newly built physicality even though he looked the role of a lightweight.
In 2018 Holloway consistently made the mistake of exchanging with Poirer with his back along the cage. Poirer constantly overpowered and hurt him on multiple occasions, almost cracking the legendary chin of Max Holloway. Gaethje was able to make Holloway kiss the canvas for a flash, but this does not invalidate the improved decision making of Max Holloway at UFC 300.
V1: Max Holloway is still prone to backing up on straight lines, but his decision making is much more intelligent than in the Poirer fight. Holloway backs himself to the fence. He keeps a tight guard and dips under Gaethje’s hard right hand, circling out and off the cage.
Gaethje’s inability to hit Holloway from the outset was evident, and whenever he was met with a charging Gaethje along the cage, he slid out to the side rather than planting and exchanging (V1). It might seem obvious, but only because the conditions surrounding Holloway’s winning conditions have changed. Holloway is a blistering avalanche of offense, endless volume, and pace. Before he met Alexander Volkanovski this was the way Holloway won fights. Every time Dustin Poirer put the pressure on him, he felt as though he needed to re-take the initiative by winning an exchange. If Max Holloway was not on the front-foot, he was not winning the fight.
V2: Holloway steps in with a 2-3 combination, but Gaethje is ready to trade hooks on the same side. Holloway opts to defend Gaethje’s follow-up punch and back out of ranger rather than prolong his offense.
Max Holloway still throws more strikes than most of his contemporaries, but he is now incredibly comfortable fighting with more patience. As mentioned in my previous article, he is an offensive counter-puncher who uses kicks from the outside like he used to use his punches. Kicking from range allows him to maintain near his old level of output and maintain a safer range from which to strike.
Holloway now kicks into his combinations or frustrates the opponent enough from range that they come in desperately, where he can easily counter with punches. This is a more reliable way to hide your punching combinations and increase their chances of success but it does not insulate you from an opponent’s own offense. Holloway’s defensive wherewithal was ever present as he was happy to land, defend, and escape even when he initiated an exchange (V2).
V3: Max Holloway set the precedent for endless body work at the very beginning of the fight. Holloway shoots a right straight to the body to to tag Gaethje’s mid-section as he backs out of range. As Gaethje re-enters, Holloway with a step-up front kick to the gut.
Max Holloway corrected the other error in his initial lightweight fight: he did not invest in the body early and often enough. Holloway’s priority against Gaethje was ample body work. The first real offense of the fight was a right straight to the body followed by a snappy front kick to the ribs (V3). Gaethje tends to tire himself out by over swinging and he becomes more desperate the less success he has. Holloway kept the majority of his offense in kicking range to Gaethje’s body and legs, slowly sapping at his power while Holloway controlled the geography and pace of the fight.
V4: The majority of Holloway’s offense lie in one of my favorite things: attritive work. Holloway begins by poking Gaethje’s leg with a non-committal low kick. Gaethje circles to the left, giving Holloway an easier angle to land his right straight to the body. Gaethje circles the opposite way only to be met with a spinning back kick to the liver. Gaethje attempts to re-establish the initiative, only to be caught with a closed-side body kick as he steps in.
Holloway’s love of kicking in recent years is borne from his modified stance. Once heavy on his lead foot and constantly jabbing, Holloway now trades about half his usual jabbing volume for kicking on the outside. His stance is shorter than it used to be and he is in a constant squat that allows him to easily shorten his stance, kick, and defend kicks (V5).
V5: Max Holloway’s “new stance” involved a shortened stance with his knees bent and an upright upper body. This bent-legged upright stance gave him an easy time dealing with Gaethje’s famous low kicks. Anytime Gaethje threatened or threw the low kick, he would back up while shortening his stance. This puts his weight on his back foot where he can lift his leg to check the oncoming kicks.
Holloway was much more prone to getting kicked out of his stance even while checking prior to his rematch with Alexander Volkanovski. Getting your stance broken is incredibly annoying. You cannot throw effective offense, and must take the time to reset where you might get countered again. Opting for a shorter, mobile stance allows Holloway to regain his stance much quicker and even feint offense after Gaethje’s usually punishing leg kicks (V6).
V6: Holloway’s shortened stance makes weight transfer between his feet a breeze. Notice how Holloway is constantly raising his lead foot in anticipation of Gaethje’s low kicks. This also allows him to kick more freely than a wide stance would. Holloway was constantly kicking off both feet throughout the whole fight, with front kicks being a favorite.
I mentioned in my pre-fight article that opponent’s can force Gaethje into desperation by pressuring him (i.e. Oliveira, Khabib). What I did not realize was that if you can prevent Gaethje from pressuring in any way, he will flail and falter. I thought Holloway might have trouble given his revised approach to fighting is less insistent on pressure. Holloway instead surprised me by using a variety of front kicks to the legs and body to stop most of Gaethje’s entries (V7). Utilizing attack that prevent the opponent from enacting offense are perfect for staying ahead and frustrate them.
V7: Holloway feints the rear snap kick to bring his feet together and stall Gaethje. From this position he can easily stomp on Gaethje’s knee, preventing any entry from The Highlight. Max throws a high kick to keep Gaethje’s hand occupied and uses the kick to bring his feet together again. From here he switched stances through stomping on Gaethje’s knee again.
The more frustrated Gaethje gets the more likely he is to throw himself off-balance with his punches. Holloway’s kicks were often non-committal. When they hit, they were not meant to damage as much as force Gaethje backwards or keep him in his stance. He used to throw arm punches to achieve this level of constant activity. Even when not making contact with Gaethje the threat was obvious enough that Gaethje needed to back away and bum-rush Holloway (V8). Now that Holloway uses his kicks to stay busy he is more comfortable sitting down on his punches with power.
V8: Holloway throws a high front kick that backs Gaethje up. Gaethje resorts to throwing his floppy, full powered right-hand, charging in to close the distance. These over swings are easily countered by Holloway’s retreating jab.
Holloway was able to control the fight so effectively by stifling Gaethje’s entries with front kicks, slowly whittle down his cardio and base with body shots and leg kicks, and counter forced errors of frustration. This gives us the outline of the story, but the dialogue between the two was forged in the details.
Tactician
Max Holloway’s strategy was brilliant, but how did he actually execute it?
Holloway’s insistence on working the body from the outside had two key benefits:
It saps energy
It backs opponents up
Straight hitting to the body will almost always illicit a backwards moving response from the opponent. It’s the easiest way to make the strike less impactful (V9).
V9: Holloway’s leg kick defense often meant he was able to retain his stance and regain it more quickly when lost. Holloway checks the oncoming leg kick from Gaethje and resets to his shortened stance. He steps in as if to jab, backing Gaethje up, and throws a long rear hand to the body that connects at the end of his reach.
Gaethje is unable to execute the majority of his offense when kept on the back foot. Holloway’s straights to the body kept him moving backwards and became more damaging as Holloway created more reliable set-ups to land them (V10).
V10: Holloway utilizes his lead hook as a feint that changes his position. The threat of the left hook brings up Gaethje’s guard and gives Holloway an un-impeded path to step out to his left. Holloway now has a clear entry to land his rear straight to the body without much risk of a counter. Gaethje would either need to throw from out of his stance or regain his stance to throw a proper counter, which Holloway would have avoided either way.
The key to Holloway’s attritive work in this fight was that very few strikes were thrown with full power. Holloway kept a consistent stream of offense to Gaethje’s body without overcommitting. He was kept safe by the range and ease of his strikes, and threw strikes hard enough that Gaethje had to address them. Just compare the commitment of their body kicks in (V11).
V11: Holloway’s own round body kick was doing wonderful work. Rather than look to land with the shin like Gaethje, Holloway opted for a more methodical approach. Holloway stepped into his kick with a mostly bent leg. The come up was slow but he ended by quickly snapping his toes right into Gaethje’s gut.
Holloway’s pressure is more considered, effective, and safe. Gaethje feels as though he needs to hit Holloway hard to succeed, where Holloway is comfortable poking at Gaethje’s body to know that he is ahead, and that Gaethje will only grow more uncomfortable and winded as a result.
V12: An interesting wrinkle to Holloway’s performance was how often he went to the closed-side body kick as a consistent weapon. Holloway took note of Gaethje’s tendency to excessively parry punches and throws a 1-2 feint to bring his hands up. The rear hand is more of a formality to shift Holloway’s weight and allow the rear leg kick to come up more quickly.
Even less “effective” tactics like the closed side body kick (V12) were a great weapon against an opponent who refuses to utilize his wrestling. Gaethje never attempted to grab the kick and was instead met with a shin to the ribs on multiple occasions. Holloway kept hitting, and Gaethje was forced to keep reacting.
Holloway’s body kicks were splendid, but the real star of the show was his constant abuse of Gaethje’s lead leg. Holloway utilized a variety of weapons that:
Kept Gaethje on the back foot
Slowly wore him down
Sound familiar?
The stomp / teep to the thigh was Holloway’s most consistent tool to poke at Gaethje’s left leg (V13). Not the most damaging strike, but it forces you to stay in your stance. Notice how it forces knee extension. This is incredibly frustrating if you are looking to move forward or laterally, and your knee is forced into a locked position. It might do some damage, but it is a weapon that forces you to maintain your stance.
V13: Holloway lands a beautiful stomp/teep to Gaethje’s front leg. Notice how Gaethje stops all action upon his stiffened stance. A fighter who relies on his forward motion to enact offense is left powerless when his prospects of forward movement are stifled.
This teep was used in combination with a flurry of light kicks to the outside and inside of Gaethje’s calf (V14). The same concept applies. The majority of Holloway’s kicking in this fight was to build up slight attritional damage, while forcing Gaethje to address his threats and move backwards.
V14: Holloway was constantly bouncing to keep a rhythm about his striking. He stops to land a solid outside low kick, and immediately follows it up with a flicking step-up inside low kick. Gaethje was forced to back his legs out of range and reset despite not being immediately damaged.
At every attempt to rush in or move forward, Gaethje was met with a foot to hi body, hip, or thigh. Gaethje’s hesitance was exploited by Holloway so he could then run in on Gaethje much more safely. With Gaethje constantly waiting for a kick, Holloway could work his legendary combinations (V15).
V15: Holloway attempts to jab while checking a hard low kick from Gaethje. Gaethje is forced to back up and Holloway adds to the pressure with a front kick to the thigh. As they meet in front of one another, Gaethje is about to step in and punch but is instead met with an oblique kick to the thigh from Holloway. With Gaethje unsure, Holloway seizes the initiative with two lovely hooks to the body and one upstairs.
One would expect Gaethje’s low kicks to be a factor, but Holloway’s stance meant that he was ready to defend the majority of Gaethje’s kicks (V15). They rarely even took Holloway out of his stance despite the increased power.
V16: Holloway throws an Alex Pereira style leg kick. Holloway then steps up with his rear leg as if to front kick. Gaethje backs away but Holloway simply switches to southpaw without consequence.
The mere threat of Holloway’s accumulative leg kicks became a much greater influence to the course of the fight than Gaethje’s much more damaging leg kicks. Simply having the larger weapon can be rendered useless if you cannot use it in its proper context. Holloway utilized an arsenal of weapons large and small, using the smaller ones to create opportunities that allow him to use his larger ones (V17). Gaethje was shooting mortars without adjusting his aim.
V17: Holloway throws what looks to be a front kick to the leg which forces Gaethje to raise his own. Rather than focus on landing, Holloway brilliantly steps outside of Gaethje’s own lead foot. Holloway is now in a perfect position to land a hard 3-2 from southpaw on his shelled up opponent.
Holloway utilized his leg kicks as if they were jabs, in a boxing context, but his mutli-tool jab was still a prominent feature. Holloway’s consistent attack to the body and legs provided more openings to the head for the jab, beginning his combinations (V19). In the same way as his kicking, the jab was usually feinted to coerce a response from Gaethje. It often landed with authority to catch Gaethje as he stormed into range.
V18: A Swiss army jab. Holloway utilizes Gaethje’s propensity to parry, stepping in while feinting the jab upstairs, only to step deeper to land the body jab. Gaethje classically dips and protects his body and steps forward as if to rush. Holloway hops out of range with a retreating jab to prevent Gaethje from gaining momentum.
The most obvious habit of Gaethje that Holloway exploited was his exaggerated dipping. With the threat of the jab established (V18, V19), Holloway was reliably able to force Gaethje’s dipping shell (V20, V21).
V19: Holloway keeps his arms outstretched to parry Gaethje’s punches and smother them before he has a chance to throw. Holloway plays this “game” to get Gaethje handsy with him. Holloway switches rhythm to quickly step into a 1-2 that rattles Gaethje. Rhythm and tempo changes aren’t only applicable to combinations, they apply to phases of the fight and actions as well.
Despite being known as a “high-risk” endeavor, Holloway’s rear uppercut was the perfect weapon to punish Gaethje’s dip while Holloway was on the front foot. If the opponent is in a vulnerable position then the perceived risk is mitigated.
V20: Holloway perfectly takes advantage of Gaethje’s dipping habit. Holloway feints the jab and notices Gaethje’s dip. Holloway feints the jab, forcing the same reaction from Gaethje, but steps in hard with a rear uppercut to land on Gaethje’s chin.
Holloway’s striking is so lauded because he does not simply exploit a tendency, he builds upon his own work. The jab to uppercut is working right? So that might not work consistently. Now he can lead with the uppercut to stand Gaethje up, and follow up with two authoritative jabs (V22).
V21: Gaethje nicely avoids the uppercut after the double jab by not dipping but Holloway is undeterred. He utilizes the opportunity to step out and reset.
Gaethje is no slouch and will throw beautiful counters during an extended combination. His strike selection could be better considered in this fight though.
V22: With Gaethje wary of dipping into the uppercut, Holloway instead leads with the uppercut. This straightens Gaethje’s posture and brings his head up straight. Holloway easily lands two power jabs on the Highlight in his straightened stance.
Oddly enough, Gaethje attempted to counter Holloway’s jab with an overhand right rather than throw the left hook. This barely fazed the Holloway, who followed up with his own left hook to startle Gaethje (V23).
V23: Holloway throws his jab out and Gaethje now dips inside the jab. Holloway still catches him with the uppercut, but Gaethje is now throwing an overhand right. Though Holloway gets caught, Gaethje is still leaning out of position, prompting Holloway to throw a more impactful left hook over Gaethje’s strike.
Holloway was eating Gaethje up with counters to the dip while on the front foot, but how could he force this reaction while on the back foot?
V24: Holloway steps in as if to left hook which backs Gaethje up. With the first ending, and almost no success, Gaethje feels as if he must move forward and go for broke. His entries are stifled by the same weapons that plagued him throughout the first: the front kicks and stomps to the body and lead leg. Rather than be deterred Gaethje pushes forward. After landing his stomp, Max feints with his jab to coerce the dip and throws a spinning back kick which acts to halt Gaethje’s pressure. In this instance however, Holloway was lucky in that Gaethje dipped hard, allowing the back kick to shatter Gaethje’s nose.
Just feint.
As Gaethje rushed into Holloway at the end of the first, Holloway throws his hands in Gaethje’s face which again forces the dip. Holloway is still on the back foot, so he decides to throw a spinning back kick. One of his more effective techniques, it ends up catching him on the face, shattering his nose (V24).
V25: Gaethje’s exaggerated head movement and high guard were constantly exploited by Holloway. Holloway steps in as if to land but is met with a low stance from Gaethje. Holloway frames off and resets, throwing his hands up to induce the same response. Gaethje shells up and is met with a hard knee to his mid-section.
Holloway’s feinting kept Gaethje’s hands high throughout the majority of the fight. He was constantly moving his hands and shoulders to force Gaethje’s guard up where he could counter with body work (V25), or take advantage of Gaethje’s tendency to parry punches (V26).
V26: Holloway switches up the tempo by keeping an active lead hand to get Gaethje expecting the jab. He instead shoots his rear hand over Gaethje’s guard and follows up with the jab to come out on an angle.
Feinting has always been a staple of Max Holloway’s game. It was able to shine brightest against an opponent who reacts so predictably to them. With a combination of feinting and striking, Max Holloway created a foundation to move around Gaethje and obtain more favorable angles for his strikes (V27).
V27: Holloway keeps his hands low against a high guard Gaethje to throw a spearing rear straight, post-off Gaethje, and come out on an outside angle. Holloway follows up with a gorgeous rear straight to the body while stepping out with his rear foot. This gives Holloway the perfect angle to land a hard lead straight from a squared stance while outside of Gaethje’s shoulder. Holloway then steps through with his lead leg to return to his stance as Gaethje is sent reeling.
Obtaining a “dominant angle” allows Holloway to accomplish a few things:
Strike from a position more likely to land with force
Strike from a position that is less likely to be countered
Keep Gaethje moving and reacting to his movement
Sounds familiar, again. Holloway used these tools to execute a game plan based upon keeping Gaethje from moving forwards, preventing his counter opportunities, and keeping his own output high.
V28: Out and to the left. Even in more idle moments, Holloway kept his jab in Gaethje’s face while stepping out and to the left. This gives Holloway a more direct path to land shots on Gaethje’s center-line, and stifles rear hand punches from Gaethje should he look to counter the lateral movement.
Max Holloway is truly a fighter in a league of his own, an all-time great who should have been recognized as such even before this masterful performance. He utilizes striking in its fullest form: combinations, feinting, movement, cage craft, and defense. He is perfect by no means, but to say he is anything less than one of the finest strikers in the sport today would be lying.
V29: Holloway need only show the lead hand to get Gaethje dipping hard. Holloway touches Gaethje with the lead and steps in with a rear hook into an up-jab that forces Gaethje to stand-up out of his stance.
Rather than the simple understanding that “punch go bonk”, he uses each of his strikes as a tool. Each one has a purpose, and that purpose is not always obvious. Gaethje is more simplistic in that way. Every strike is thrown as a weapon, and though he can create some reliable setups for his strikes, he is too flustered when not making contact with his opponent that he will make mistakes given enough time.
V30: Holloway kept incredibly active hands to keep Gaethje aware of the punching threat. This gave Holloway a clear opening to attack Gaethje’s legs and body with kicks as he kept his hands high to parry punches.
Most actions of Gaethje are big. Big strikes, big reactions (V31), big movements. He can be incredibly keen and subtle in the pocket, but most of what he did throughout this fight was far too obvious against a fighter as brilliant as Holloway
V31: Holloway’s feinting forced huge defensive reactions from Gaethje. Holloway steps deep with a a jab and acts as if he will throw his rear hand, but backs off as Gaethje sprinted out of range.
Holloway only unleashed his BIG movements to counter Gaethje. Everything else as small. A small action by Holloway forced a large reaction out of Gaethje (V32) allowing Holloway to counter. This was the story of the fight.
V32: One of my favorite feints, the step-in feint. Holloway lowers his stance as if he’s sitting down to punch hard. Gaethje tries to control the pace by dipping into an uppercut and left hook. Holloway was ready for an over-commitment by Gaethje and almost catches him with a light lead hook while circling out.
A man who has spent time honing his craft, embedding himself within the subtleties of striking, showed out against a fighter who approaches the game as if it were a bygone era. The physical discrepancy most expected to present itself throughout the fight simply was not there, as Holloway is sitting down on his counter-punches and making his power known.
Many counted Max Holloway out, and though I did not after watching the film, I was still expecting a somewhat regressed form of the fighter we had been seeing recently. Turns out, he’s simply been perfecting a new style.
I am ecstatic to see Max Holloway fight Ilia Topuria, and I would even love to see a fight with Islam Makhachev. The world is his oyster now and I would not at all be surprised to see him regain the Featherweight crown. If you can learn anything from Max Holloway (besides techniques to steal):
Embed yourself in a craft
Become an expert
Take a risk to cement your name in history
Live.
-Kick
Brilliant write up to a brilliant performance