I'm a big fan of Max Hollaway, but I'm concerned about his future. Here's why. (ghost of Tony Ferguson)

[big franklin]

I'm a big fan of Max Holloway, but I'm concerned about his future. Here's why.

Although I don't talk about him as much, Max Holloway is easily one of my favorite fighters of all time. He's one of the FW GOATs and is a cool guy outside of the ring. I randomly think about him when I'm in the shower or in bed at night. I was pissed that he didn't beat Volkanovski in the rematches. His standup game is one of the best in the game... however, I am concerned about his future. Here's why.

Max Holloway has some 'holes in his game', such as lack of KO power, zero grappling offensive, mediocre fight IQ, etc. However, his biggest 'hole' by far is his huge amount of damage he takes every fight. Like Gaethje, he is a sponge. He takes way too much damage, very high mileage.

He's now 32. Unless he adjusts his fighting style, I see a Tony Ferguson type downfall with Max. Athleticism diminishes with age, especially at featherweight.

I'm going to try and hold back my tears come UFC 300 when he faces Justin Gaethje.

Please, Max... don't become the next Tony Ferguson.

 

[Arm Barbarian]

Yeah, I'm a bit worried for him as well.

Huge balls to step up a class and take this fight, but hopefully Gaethje doesn't add too much more to his CTE.

Max has been through so many wars, and I remember that time he almost died in the lead up to a fight. Guy has been through a lot over his career.

 

[Pechan]

He'll be fine, if he wins I want to seem him vs Charles again since the first one ended with an injury, if he loses I want to see him vs Barboza or Ige.

 

[Hog-train]

Gaethje is going to kill him.

 

[bartleby929]

he's hawaiian, he'll be fine. they have a warrior spirit.

tony is american. he doesn't have the mexican warrior spirit.

 

[Question]

I think he has a solid chance the more I thought about the matchup, but at first I definitely felt a similar way that Justin would steamroll him. He still could, but Max definitely has some paths to victory here.

IMO I'm ok with Max taking fights like this, he doesn't have much left at featherweight to prove and this is a great fight to challenge himself again after his last unsuccessful lightweight stint against Poirier.
A Gaethje win would also be an awesome feather in his cap.

The only part I really ain't big on is the BMF belt, just a bad gimmick title.

 

[fortheo]

I'm actually not a big Max holloway fan, yet I'm far more confident in him than all the Max Holloway fans I see. Max is a championship level fighter and he has some things working in his favor in this fight. You guys need to relax. Even if Max loses, I think he'll have a respectable showing.

 

[NoSmilez]

Honestly I thought Max was shot years ago when he started slurring. He always performed well after that episode.

 

[BangBang]

Max Holloway does not have mediocre fight IQ. If he did you wouldn’t get fighters like Arnold Allen struggling to lay his hands on him. I’m afraid for Max as well because the good big guy usually beats the small good guy but I think it’s mainly size they separates the two.

 

[fizzlehiss]

He didn't take a lot of damage his last few fights. It's kinda exaggerated based on few of his fights he took years ago. On top of it he doesn't spar or spars very little, and if you train you would know that's where a lot of the damage is done. Tony's downfall is not only based on athleticism, it's also on who he started to fight and and who Tony was as a character. Max not relying on KO power is even beneficial if anything since he won't lose what wasn't there in the first place.

 

[VAfan]

agree, it's possible. gets hit too much and doesn't hit hard. on top of that, has a good chin. which equals taking a whole lotta punishment over an extended period of time, fights going to decision and fifteen or twenty-five minutes of taking a pounding. hope he proves me wrong, but yeah it's possible.

 

[Skarsgard]

I beat Substance Abuse to a Max Holloway thread? Weird.

 

[Your Account]

I'm a big fan of Max Holloway, but I'm concerned about his future. Here's why.
I randomly think about him when I'm in the shower or in bed at night.

 

[KOPPE]

Something changed about him after the Yair fight. same with Jeremy Stephens, Ortega, Korean Zombie
and Volk (I know he won) but he looked like a shell of himself in Islam fight.
I could be reading too much into it. Maybe not. Either way, Yair is a problem.

 

[Xoleth]

I'm a big fan of Max Holloway, but I'm concerned about his future. Here's why.

Although I don't talk about him as much, Max Holloway is easily one of my favorite fighters of all time. He's one of the FW GOATs and is a cool guy outside of the ring. I randomly think about him when I'm in the shower or in bed at night. I was pissed that he didn't beat Volkanovski in the rematches. His standup game is one of the best in the game... however, I am concerned about his future. Here's why.

Max Holloway has some 'holes in his game', such as lack of KO power, zero grappling offensive, mediocre fight IQ, etc. However, his biggest 'hole' by far is his huge amount of damage he takes every fight. Like Gaethje, he is a sponge. He takes way too much damage, very high mileage.

He's now 32. Unless he adjusts his fighting style, I see a Tony Ferguson type downfall with Max. Athleticism diminishes with age, especially at featherweight.

I'm going to try and hold back my tears come UFC 300 when he faces Justin Gaethje.

Please, Max... don't become the next Tony Ferguson.


View attachment 1029277

lack of KO power = unlike many other top fighters in the smaller divisions
zero grappling offensive = every fighter has some hole like this. Yeah, but he has great striking and great TDD.
mediocre fight IQ = wow

Ferg was the kind of guy who took a lot of damage by losing many rounds against not so good fighters but beating them in the end with a surprise sub or by TKO.

Max didn't get as much damage as Ferg and is the kind of guy who dominates his opponents (who are top fighters) for 3 or 5 rounds.

His problem is that he has a very small reach for LW.

 

[DapperDave]

Good thread.

My gut reaction to the Holloway-Gaethje booking was "Tony Ferguson."
So I went and looked at Holloway's record again, and it looks really good, and he is still winning, so my gut must be way off base here.

A week later, my gut reaction to Holloway-Gaethje is still: "Tony Ferguson."

Holloway is great. His record is great.
But boy, that can change quickly.

We'll see....

 

[Killer Kadoogan]

this is the worst kind of matchmaking you can set up, the worst kind of fight for both fighters. it does nothing to advance their status in their own divisions, and it only hurts your own product. in the off chance max wins, who cares? he can't beat any other top LWs, will not go up to LW, everyone loses to islam. if Gaethje wins, who cares? it does nothing to cement a title shot at LW, it does fuck all. and on top of that they both take damage, max will take even more so. the UFC has gone ass backwards with the pandemic. the new direction is terrible.

 

[KarateYeah]

He'll be fine. He's a big unjacked Hawaiian, deal with it!

 

[StonedLemur]

I'm a big fan of Max Holloway, but I'm concerned about his future. Here's why.

Although I don't talk about him as much, Max Holloway is easily one of my favorite fighters of all time. He's one of the FW GOATs and is a cool guy outside of the ring. I randomly think about him when I'm in the shower or in bed at night. I was pissed that he didn't beat Volkanovski in the rematches. His standup game is one of the best in the game... however, I am concerned about his future. Here's why.

Max Holloway has some 'holes in his game', such as lack of KO power, zero grappling offensive, mediocre fight IQ, etc. However, his biggest 'hole' by far is his huge amount of damage he takes every fight. Like Gaethje, he is a sponge. He takes way too much damage, very high mileage.

He's now 32. Unless he adjusts his fighting style, I see a Tony Ferguson type downfall with Max. Athleticism diminishes with age, especially at featherweight.

I'm going to try and hold back my tears come UFC 300 when he faces Justin Gaethje.

Please, Max... don't become the next Tony Ferguson.


View attachment 1029277

This thread has been made at least twice sir.

 

[RonDante]

This is such a funny thread lol, lack of ko power becuase so many featherweights have ko power right? He still gets finishes

lack of offensive grappling? Like when he didn’t beat up yair on the ground and didnt almost sub tkz

poor fight iq? Like when he made Allen swing at air for most of the fight and push the pace on an Aldo that has always had cardio issues, or when he baited yair into a leg kick so he could take him down, or when he outboxed the boxer Calvin using angles and footwork

Tony relied on his athleticism. Max doesn’t . He will be fine