How does Holloway even beat Gaethje?

[taugrim]

His kick checking will definitely have to be on point.

Gaethje murders legs.

If he can check a lot of the kicks, Max can potentially outbox Justin. Outscore him with combo punching.

One thing Do Bronx did that was incredibly effective against Gaethje's calf kicks was simply lift up his lead leg and pull his foot backwards.

That made Justin's kicks either contact the upper shin (painful), miss, or go under Charles's legs.

It was a brilliant adjustment.

 

[jeff7b9]

I am a big Gaethje fan and if Justin comes in his best form, fighting SMART, using angles, picking his shots and setting up his power... that is a bad day for Max.

But

When Justin get punched in the face, he is fully capable of forgetting all of his technical improvements and being drawn into a sloppy brawl.

Max could out land him or hurt him if he can get Justin to fight sloppy AND not get hurt in the process.

Not an EASY task, but not impossible.

 

[Pancake Sprawl]

i think if Max comes out aggressive pushing the pace he'll negate the kicks just on his aggression. it's not like Gaethje is known to low kick guys while in the middle of an exchange or backing up. he mainly picks at them when they're finding the range or resetting. Gaethje can get sloppy in exchanges and Max can rock him. people are acting like Max is facing the LW version of Mark Hunt. Gaethje has been hurt in the majority of his fights and Max just 1 shotted Korean Zombie. Volkanovski and Ortega didn't do that and they're supposedly harder hitters than Max.

 

[welcometohavoc]

Holloway is my favourite fighter. I'm excited for this fight. Rather this than Emmett or another run at 45. This is weird and cool. But...Gaethje is a deadly matchup.
Gaethje's leg kicks will be a problem
The power will be a problem
The volume will be a problem
His counters will be a problem
His clinch strikes problematic
No range is safe with this guy.
His striking cardio holds up
What can max do to win? Apart from some weird counter punch TKO scenario, like
Max doesn't have knockout power like that.
He has good kicks but hasn't used them to great effect.
Sure that elbow he got kattar was nice but idk
The flurries and combos can be disrupted by Gaethje power shots.
Ironically the only area where max has a clear cut advantage is on the floor. Gaethje would not survive his top game if max stunned and knocked him down. Otherwise, this fight could turn ugly. Change my mind.

Personally I think Max will put on a master class against Gaethje but it's MMA so who knows

 

[BEATDOWNS]

Pick him apppattt

 

[Doughie99]

A. Max sneaks an RPG into the octagon.

 

[Chaotic Progressor]

Staying away from bombs + volume.
I don't think that will happen, but, that's how.

 

[haj02]

It's all dependant on him causing Justin to get tired. Justin is too damn strong and durable to be beaten on a single exchange. Holloway is going to need him gasping for air if he's going to do it.

 

[A Very Serious Cat]

I fear this will be the fight that will break Max's legendary chin, kind of like Gaethje broke Tony

 

[smalliebiggs]

This will be the start of Max' Chocolate Al/BJ Penn downhill slide. Look for him to get brutalized and never win against a good opponent again.

or you might say his Tony Ferg downhill slide which was triggered by, none other than, Gathje himself

 

[burningspear]

max needs to show he's 'the best boxer in the ufc' with footwork like floyd

 

[BigDramaShow26]

Look it's entirely possible that Max boxes the shit out of Gaethje. Porier had no idea Gaethje would attempt that high kick. Max has better footwork than anyone Gaethje has ever fought aside from maybe Fiziev. But Fiziev has a shit gas tank. If Max is adapted to the weight better than he was 5 years ago then he can win.

 

[LEWIS540]

I don't know what they were thinking putting this fight together. Justin is a big ass LW. Max is not.

Justin is going to annihilate him

Not at all. Max is reportedly one of the biggest cutters in all of the UFC.

So much so that when he stepped in to face Khabib (at 155 not his normal 145) on a weeks notice they had to pull him from his weight cut because they thought he might die.

 

[Trabaho]

By having the best fight of his life

 

[sonhow]

I cant see how Poirier and Justin are comparable. Except both are brawlers of the highest order. But the approach is where theres a difference. Justin picks his shots and looks to lands powerful single shots to legs and head while Dustin just ran at Max and drowned him with volume and power punches. I believe when I see it when it comes to Max not taking single power shots. And cant not see Justin brawling either.

 

[13Seconds]

Volume, chin and cardio baby.

Justin cardio is pretty shit

 

[pankrat]

I don't know what they were thinking putting this fight together. Justin is a big ass LW. Max is not.

Justin is going to annihilate him

Justin is not one of the biggest LWs.
Max IS one of the biggest FWs.

The weight difference in fight night won't be nothing we don't see regularly within any given weight class.

Max has had more size/weight advantage over FW opponents in the past than he will be in dissadvantage for this fight.

Are you new to MMA?

 

[Jasper_RB81]

I mean I kinda agree that it's a really tough matchup for Max and it's hard to find a clear path to victory... but Max has proven people wrong so many times before.

 

[Eric Silva 2.0]

Holloway is my favourite fighter. I'm excited for this fight. Rather this than Emmett or another run at 45. This is weird and cool. But...Gaethje is a deadly matchup.
Gaethje's leg kicks will be a problem
The power will be a problem
The volume will be a problem
His counters will be a problem
His clinch strikes problematic
No range is safe with this guy.
His striking cardio holds up
What can max do to win? Apart from some weird counter punch TKO scenario, like
Max doesn't have knockout power like that.
He has good kicks but hasn't used them to great effect.
Sure that elbow he got kattar was nice but idk
The flurries and combos can be disrupted by Gaethje power shots.
Ironically the only area where max has a clear cut advantage is on the floor. Gaethje would not survive his top game if max stunned and knocked him down. Otherwise, this fight could turn ugly. Change my mind.

Max is my favorite fighter as well. I think this is a bad career move and he belongs only at FW. All the things you say are true. I think Max is a better pure boxer than Gaethje. He has better cardio. I can see a scenario where Max weathers Gaethje's storm and turns the tide to overwhelm Gaethje with volume and precision. I expect Max to take a lot of damage in this fight and most likely he loses. I think he would've been better served fighting Evloev or Ilia if he can beat Volk.

 

[TriangleMonkey]

Max has a nasty guillotine, especially off a club-n-sub

If he can somehow wobble Justin, make him dip his head, grab up that neck


Highly unlikley though