Post Event Analysis: Max and Colby

Zebra Cheeks

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This is my opinion and thoughts after having some time to process the event.

Max Holloway faced a guy last night that takes a very different approach then he does. Max Holloway is essentially going to do the same thing every fight. Like a Jon Jones, or gsp. He is what he is and he is gonna make it his fight and force you to figure it out. Volkanovski adapts. He changes his gameplan significantly fight to fight and tailors it to the guy he’s facing. I think the valuable lesson for max is that he needs a better plan B. We’ve never really seen him beaten on the feet, so he’s never had to engage in grappling as the basis for his gameplan, but I think it was obvious he need to try clinching and using his height in the clinch last night. Get in dirty and take away that space for volk to sit back and hit those legs.

He didn’t adjust mid fight, so he lost. Max is a guy that has all the tools to win that volk fight, but he just did not adapt. Instead of adapting with offense he switches stances, but that doesn’t solve the problem it only prolongs it.


Colby came in as he always does pressuring. Hard, fast and all at once he appeared to be winning early in the night. In fact, I’d argue round 1 was his best. Now Kamaru is staying cool, staying calm and picking shots. More or less matching the pace but hitting the body more and landing those long, loaded up straights and jabs. In round it became apparent (in my opinion) that Colby was getting caught on his way in. Usman was timing the entry and punishing him. Now, colby sticks with it for all 25 minutes, and in my opinion the longer it went on the worse he looked. The scoring comes down to how early do you think usman took control.

Normally when you’re getting beat with technical striking you adapt. There was no clinch. No takedowns. No feints. I’m shocked that Colby, once he stalls in r3 doesn’t swarm usman and follow with grappling. I’m not sure if he believed he was winning, but the dudes got a broken jaw and doesn’t even try to get away from that jab. I think Colby needed to get away from his gameplan and try to SLOW THE FIGHT DOWN. Because simply put, he was too beat up to continue pushing the pace for a win.
 
Good analysis. I think Colby weighed whether or not he would have the energy to take it to the ground and if it was worth it. It’s a difficult matchup for Covington if he can’t wear Usman down with volume cause there isn’t much else he can do.
 
Good analysis. I think Colby weighed whether or not he would have the energy to take it to the ground and if it was worth it. It’s a difficult matchup for Covington if he can’t wear Usman down with volume cause there isn’t much else he can do.
I don’t think he dominates in grappling, but you have to at least try after taking r3 off right? I think it became clear late he had no business on the feet after r3
 
I don’t think he dominates in grappling, but you have to at least try after taking r3 off right? I think it became clear late he had no business on the feet after r3

yeah, it might have been worth it a shot, score some points but I don’t think he was confident he could do much and would tire himself out even more
 
This is my opinion and thoughts after having some time to process the event.

Max Holloway faced a guy last night that takes a very different approach then he does. Max Holloway is essentially going to do the same thing every fight. Like a Jon Jones, or gsp. He is what he is and he is gonna make it his fight and force you to figure it out. Volkanovski adapts. He changes his gameplan significantly fight to fight and tailors it to the guy he’s facing. I think the valuable lesson for max is that he needs a better plan B. We’ve never really seen him beaten on the feet, so he’s never had to engage in grappling as the basis for his gameplan, but I think it was obvious he need to try clinching and using his height in the clinch last night. Get in dirty and take away that space for volk to sit back and hit those legs.

He didn’t adjust mid fight, so he lost. Max is a guy that has all the tools to win that volk fight, but he just did not adapt. Instead of adapting with offense he switches stances, but that doesn’t solve the problem it only prolongs it.


Colby came in as he always does pressuring. Hard, fast and all at once he appeared to be winning early in the night. In fact, I’d argue round 1 was his best. Now Kamaru is staying cool, staying calm and picking shots. More or less matching the pace but hitting the body more and landing those long, loaded up straights and jabs. In round it became apparent (in my opinion) that Colby was getting caught on his way in. Usman was timing the entry and punishing him. Now, colby sticks with it for all 25 minutes, and in my opinion the longer it went on the worse he looked. The scoring comes down to how early do you think usman took control.

Normally when you’re getting beat with technical striking you adapt. There was no clinch. No takedowns. No feints. I’m shocked that Colby, once he stalls in r3 doesn’t swarm usman and follow with grappling. I’m not sure if he believed he was winning, but the dudes got a broken jaw and doesn’t even try to get away from that jab. I think Colby needed to get away from his gameplan and try to SLOW THE FIGHT DOWN. Because simply put, he was too beat up to continue pushing the pace for a win.

Colby won round four. I had him winning rounds 1, 2 and 4. I dunno if your analysis of that fight is fair tbh.
 
Colby won round four. I had him winning rounds 1, 2 and 4. I dunno if your analysis of that fight is fair tbh.
Under what context? I’m less interested in scorecards, and more so what lost colby the fight. Did you feel he had momentum going into the fifth?
 
Under what context? I’m less interested in scorecards, and more so what lost colby the fight. Did you feel he had momentum going into the fifth?
You saying that his gameplan was going downhill later in the fight. He won round four and if Usman hadn't gotten the knockdown, he very well could have won round 5 and clinched the fight. Big if I know but round 5 was very even until the knockdown.

That's what I don't think is fair tbh.
 
This is my opinion and thoughts after having some time to process the event.
Max Holloway faced a guy last night that takes a very different approach then he does. Max Holloway is essentially going to do the same thing every fight. Like a Jon Jones, or gsp. He is what he is and he is gonna make it his fight and force you to figure it out. Volkanovski adapts. He changes his gameplan significantly fight to fight and tailors it to the guy he’s facing. I think the valuable lesson for max is that he needs a better plan B. We’ve never really seen him beaten on the feet, so he’s never had to engage in grappling as the basis for his gameplan, but I think it was obvious he need to try clinching and using his height in the clinch last night. Get in dirty and take away that space for volk to sit back and hit those legs.
He didn’t adjust mid fight, so he lost. Max is a guy that has all the tools to win that volk fight, but he just did not adapt. Instead of adapting with offense he switches stances, but that doesn’t solve the problem it only prolongs it

Volk is awesome, kind of reminds me of a poor mans GSP and now he's a champ and he's only getting better. Max underestimated his opponents fight IQ and probably ate too many "cupcakes" over the years overvaluing his own strengths. I love Max and I love when he mentioned he is only 28. I hope he continues to develop and refine his strengths and pickup some form of ground game/ sub game. His length is an advantage at 145 and he is only going to lose speed moving forward but will more often than not, be able to depend on his cage savvy due to the amount of wars he has been in. I surely hope he never tries to move up to 155 and make that his home.

Colby came in as he always does pressuring. Hard, fast and all at once he appeared to be winning early in the night. In fact, I’d argue round 1 was his best. Now Kamaru is staying cool, staying calm and picking shots. More or less matching the pace but hitting the body more and landing those long, loaded up straights and jabs. In round it became apparent (in my opinion) that Colby was getting caught on his way in. Usman was timing the entry and punishing him. Now, colby sticks with it for all 25 minutes, and in my opinion the longer it went on the worse he looked. The scoring comes down to how early do you think usman took control.
Normally when you’re getting beat with technical striking you adapt. There was no clinch. No takedowns. No feints. I’m shocked that Colby, once he stalls in r3 doesn’t swarm usman and follow with grappling. I’m not sure if he believed he was winning, but the dudes got a broken jaw and doesn’t even try to get away from that jab. I think Colby needed to get away from his gameplan and try to SLOW THE FIGHT DOWN. Because simply put, he was too beat up to continue pushing the pace for a win.

Couldn't agree more. I was expecting Colby to try and use his volume striking to setup his clinch and wrestling which drains his opponents like a welterweight version of Khabib. Worst case it goes to a scramble and he gets slammed but he gets back up and keeps on chipping away with volume striking. Usman was able to stand back and watch Colby use his plan B striking game exclusively and Usman was able to counter that with no fear of a takedown. Even at Defcon 5 when Colbys jaw was broken he did not change his strategy. I give him credit for having the guts to stand and bang with a broken jaw but by that point, guts took over brains and the key flaw in my pre fight analysis was exposed. I thought that Colby could outsmart Usman. Big mistake. Kudos to Usman
 
You saying that his gameplan was going downhill later in the fight. He won round four and if Usman hadn't gotten the knockdown, he very well could have won round 5 and clinched the fight. Big if I know but round 5 was very even until the knockdown.

That's what I don't think is fair tbh.
Hey that’s a fair take mate. Interesting to see it through your perspective. For the record, 2 of the three judges did score r4 usman, and that was my perception as well. I saw it as a relatively straight forward fast start, slow end for Colby. In other words each consecutive round u thought favored usman more and more. That’s why I analyzed it the way I did. By round 5 those knockdowns were not one big shot, it was cumulative damage. My recommendation is that he should have used grappling to slow his accumulation of damage and swing a late round to give him the first two rounds and a late round.
 
This is my opinion and thoughts after having some time to process the event.

Max Holloway faced a guy last night that takes a very different approach then he does. Max Holloway is essentially going to do the same thing every fight. Like a Jon Jones, or gsp. He is what he is and he is gonna make it his fight and force you to figure it out. Volkanovski adapts. He changes his gameplan significantly fight to fight and tailors it to the guy he’s facing. I think the valuable lesson for max is that he needs a better plan B. We’ve never really seen him beaten on the feet, so he’s never had to engage in grappling as the basis for his gameplan, but I think it was obvious he need to try clinching and using his height in the clinch last night. Get in dirty and take away that space for volk to sit back and hit those legs.

He didn’t adjust mid fight, so he lost. Max is a guy that has all the tools to win that volk fight, but he just did not adapt. Instead of adapting with offense he switches stances, but that doesn’t solve the problem it only prolongs it.


Colby came in as he always does pressuring. Hard, fast and all at once he appeared to be winning early in the night. In fact, I’d argue round 1 was his best. Now Kamaru is staying cool, staying calm and picking shots. More or less matching the pace but hitting the body more and landing those long, loaded up straights and jabs. In round it became apparent (in my opinion) that Colby was getting caught on his way in. Usman was timing the entry and punishing him. Now, colby sticks with it for all 25 minutes, and in my opinion the longer it went on the worse he looked. The scoring comes down to how early do you think usman took control.

Normally when you’re getting beat with technical striking you adapt. There was no clinch. No takedowns. No feints. I’m shocked that Colby, once he stalls in r3 doesn’t swarm usman and follow with grappling. I’m not sure if he believed he was winning, but the dudes got a broken jaw and doesn’t even try to get away from that jab. I think Colby needed to get away from his gameplan and try to SLOW THE FIGHT DOWN. Because simply put, he was too beat up to continue pushing the pace for a win.

Under what context? I’m less interested in scorecards, and more so what lost colby the fight. Did you feel he had momentum going into the fifth?

Great analysis.

The scorecards mattered in this fight imo because it dictated a lot to how things played out. Colby won rounds 1+2 imo and I agree he took 3 off, in part because I think he knew he was winning at that point. But I really started to tell that Usmans damage was adding up in the 3rd as well (obviously), and agree with your take on what was he supposed to do? I did want to see him try for at least one takedown late, but I think he was just too beat up.

Very impressed with Usman. He's going to be a difficult match for anyone. We all knew he could grapple, but damn he broke Colbys face.
 
Volk is awesome, kind of reminds me of a poor mans GSP and now he's a champ and he's only getting better. Max underestimated his opponents fight IQ and probably ate too many "cupcakes" over the years overvaluing his own strengths. I love Max and I love when he mentioned he is only 28. I hope he continues to develop and refine his strengths and pickup some form of ground game/ sub game. His length is an advantage at 145 and he is only going to lose speed moving forward but will more often than not, be able to depend on his cage savvy due to the amount of wars he has been in. I surely hope he never tries to move up to 155 and make that his home.



Couldn't agree more. I was expecting Colby to try and use his volume striking to setup his clinch and wrestling which drains his opponents like a welterweight version of Khabib. Worst case it goes to a scramble and he gets slammed but he gets back up and keeps on chipping away with volume striking. Usman was able to stand back and watch Colby use his plan B striking game exclusively and Usman was able to counter that with no fear of a takedown. Even at Defcon 5 when Colbys jaw was broken he did not change his strategy. I give him credit for having the guts to stand and bang with a broken jaw but by that point, guts took over brains and the key flaw in my pre fight analysis was exposed. I thought that Colby could outsmart Usman. Big mistake. Kudos to Usman
Yeah exactly. And the thing about max is that he’s definitely accumulating mileage with these 5 round wars. At some point if his goal is longevity he needs to use all facets of his game.

agreed. Let’s not get it twisted. If I’m being 100%, if you ask me “Zebra, who’s the best 3 round fighter in MMA”. I’m telling you khabib for his pace and dominance, and then you’ve got Colby right there behind him. What Colby found out was that even if his cardio can go for 5 rounds, damage that he accumulated will effect him before the fights over.
 
Great analysis.

The scorecards mattered in this fight imo because it dictated a lot to how things played out. Colby won rounds 1+2 imo and I agree he took 3 off, in part because I think he knew he was winning at that point. But I really started to tell that Usmans damage was adding up in the 3rd as well (obviously), and agree with your take on what was he supposed to do? I did want to see him try for at least one takedown late, but I think he was just too beat up.

Very impressed with Usman. He's going to be a difficult match for anyone. We all knew he could grapple, but damn he broke Colbys face.
Thanks boss I appreciate the love.

right? I thought Usmans striking was being overlooked because woodley is one of the better strikers at WW, and usman picked him apart. But it was tough to tell whether it was an effect of the wrestling, or if he just plain and simple had him beat. After that performance last night I think we know the answer.
 
if Usman hadn't gotten the knockdown

That's like saying Max would have won if he didnt get leg kicked or GDR eoikd have won if she could stuff Nunes' takedowns.

Usman got the knockdowns because of he was the better fighter
 
I don’t think he dominates in grappling, but you have to at least try after taking r3 off right? I think it became clear late he had no business on the feet after r3
I believe he decided not to grapple because of the painful jaw, plus both guys seems to have an unspoken agreement to just duke it out and avoid making it a grapple feat
 
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