Could current champ Max Holloway beat Conor in a 5 round fight?

[HoFF]

Tough weight cut for McGee, but possible.

 

[ewww21]

The Max Conor beat was the same Max who could barely deal with Leonard Garcia. He's obviously a much better fighter now. I think Conor would have to sleep him in the first two rounds to win.

Yeah, I think that Conor fight kinda made a man out of Max. He was def green at that point in time and was like 20. And everyone else got KTFOd lol. He's a badass, a blessing to this sport. I think if they run it back, and he's healthy, he can survive the early storm and tire Conor out then finish him.

Max has insane killer instincts. If he had the same advantages over Conor as Diaz, he'd TKO Conor fo sure.

 

[smiles mma]

Not speculating about his health, the Max we seen in his last few fights could give anyone a run for their money. Personally I think he'd match up well against Conor. Could Conor catch him? Yes. Could Max break Conor? Yes

 

[The XL]

they already fought and Mcgregor hit him with everything he had.

Even if Holloway is not a lightweight that woud be a fuckin hard fight for Mcgregor.

He can actually take Mcgregor punches and he can put as much pressure as Nate did but with much more power behind his strikes.

I think that at this stage of their lives I would pick Holloway.

Fights don't always go exactly the same, just because Holloway ate it then doesn't mean he'd eat it now, especially with his health issues, but if he ate it the way he did 5 years ago, McGregor would be fucked. He'd just do what Nate did to him times 10.

 

[The XL]

People try and blame the loss on Max being "green", but Max lost that fight because he couldn't handle Conor's forward pressure, power, and accuracy, and so was forced onto his backfoot the entire fight as every time he tried to come forward Conor smacked him back. His entire style is instead based on doing that to his opponent, and current Max isn't even as good of a striker as the Conor he faced back then, let alone today's, so it would just happen again.

Max still loses, probably by KO given his health issues and Conor's increased striking.

Max could barely handle Leonard fucking Garcia at that point in his career. You're delusional if you think that fight would have any bearing on a fight today.

 

[C0NCH3TO]

Fights don't always go exactly the same, just because Holloway ate it then doesn't mean he'd eat it now, especially with his health issues, but if he ate it the way he did 5 years ago, McGregor would be fucked. He'd just do what Nate did to him times 10.

Max has an iron chin. I think he would take em. But like you said, every fight is different.

 

[Cheese_&_mma_lover]

I don't think so due to connor's movement

 

[The XL]

I don't think so due to connor's movement

Conor's movement didn't stop Nate Diaz from overwhelming him and eventually hurting him on the fight, I don't see why it would be different vs Max. Hell, even when Conor gameplanned for Nate the second time, he still did a far worse job than Josh Thompson did standing vs Nate. Conor's movement is overrated, his success is due to his underrated speed and athleticism, his piston left hand, and his gamesmanship.

 

[Bogeyman]

I think it would go exactly the same as the first fight. Holloway's high-volume pressure style is a nightmare for most fighters but it brought the best out of McGregor.

 

[NotoriousMillions]

Conor demolished Max with one knee. Haters will never learn.

 

[Guy LeDouche]

At 155, I'll take Holloway.
His overall game has improved much more than Conor has in the same time. He's got the cardio to last, the hands and chin to match Mcgregor.

Conor I feel has fallen in love with his standup too much, but we shall see if he has improved any come Oct.6th

 

[markg171]

Max could barely handle Leonard fucking Garcia at that point in his career. You're delusional if you think that fight would have any bearing on a fight today.

Tell me how Max is supposed to successfully implement his style on Conor when Conor is the better striker, who wants his opponents to come at him and so will pressure Max into trying to do just that and will make him pay with his greater power and accuracy, just like he did then?

Max got better at his style. He didn't reinvent himself a new style. The problem, as it was back then, is his style plays into Conor's hands. You have to hope Conor gasses himself out beating Max to the punch, not Max being better. That's always a terrible idea.

Also, Max is currently on a 12 fight win streak since that loss. 4/12 of those wins came within a year of that loss to Conor. He was the bad fighter you want to pretend he was.

 

[moogie101]

No, even if max is healthy (which sadly seems unlikely) conor beats him again.

 

[burningspear]

When Conor was at the age he met Max, he was getting tapped out by guys you literally never heard of.

Getting tapped is another facet of the game, Max got dominated on the feet, his game.

 

[LockardTheGOAT]

People need to stop harping on Max's health issues. We don't know what they are or if they'll even have any real effects on him by the time he returns.

Max never beats Conor regardless imo. Max is only great at striking and he isn't on Conor's level (like another user said, McGregor's striking back then was still likely better than Max's is today), and his ground game is probably FAR inferior as well given that he was dominated by Conor on the ground back then despite Conor having a torn ACL. Conor's ground work has only gotten better since then, not worse, since he's spent his last few fights against Diaz, Alvarez, Khabib, etc. improving his ability on the ground in case the fight ended up there...

 

[magicmarker]

Conor’s ‘bad cardio’ might be a bit overblown. He absolutely ran out of steam in the first Diaz fight, then won a 5 round decision, then had a fight that didn’t go the distance, then boxed for longer than a five round fight would last before losing. That was over a year ago...

 

[Reclusive]

Max is an overrated brawler who beat an over the hill Aldo. He gets embarrassed by Ortega, Zabeast, Connie, and possibly Mendes.

 

[Mixedfights]

Conor beat Max with wrestling

 

[Pancake Sprawl]

the difference is Jones was the first guy to really demolish these dudes in the Octagon. we've never seen destruction like that before.

Max was bullying a Jose aldo that had already been Kid in 13 fucking seconds.

so Aldo is damaged goods because he got knocked out once? who else has done what Conor and Max has done to him? nobody. Aldo even completely owned Frankie Edgar AFTER getting KO'd by Conor.

i didn't realize once a fighter gets knocked out his skills diminish to nothing.

 

[Cheese_&_mma_lover]

Conor's movement didn't stop Nate Diaz from overwhelming him and eventually hurting him on the fight, I don't see why it would be different vs Max. Hell, even when Conor gameplanned for Nate the second time, he still did a far worse job than Josh Thompson did standing vs Nate. Conor's movement is overrated, his success is due to his underrated speed and athleticism, his piston left hand, and his gamesmanship.

I think the difference is that Nate is a southpaw. I think as long as Connor can maintain his range and distance he will not gas. I think Nate being a longer southpaw took him out of his comfort zone. Although Max has gotten better I think Connor would be able to control the distance with him.