Aldo vs Holloway better striker

[BlessYourHeart]

terrible take. The talent at FW has never been as deep as it is now. When Aldo was holding the belt the majority of his career, a majority of the guys he fought in championship fights would barely make the top 10 now. And I am both an Aldo and Max fan. It’s just the truth.

The sport and fighters evolve. Max being the younger fighter and fighting tough competition since his UFC debut is an accomplishment of its own. But you can't take away from Aldo's reign because he fought the best of his time too.

That's why I base it on how Max ends his career. Aldo kinda went downhill since his loss to McGregor. Max has done well since losing the belt but he's still beating top FWs. All I'm saying is it's a better discussion 5 yrs from now. I honestly don't see Aldo recapturing any gold. Let's see if where Max goes from here.

 

[PunchyMcSplodo]

Obviously he had to shed muscle to make 135 but that doesn't mean he was big for 145 before, he only had a bad cut when he wasn't disciplined.

He was big-ish for 145 in terms of mass/weight, and he was already pretty cut/ripped. Dude was usually walking into the cage with an 8 pack and looking super chiseled even after being fully hydrated, but he was still water cutting 20 - 25 pounds by his team's own admission.

Better weight cut techniques helped, but he had to shed some functional muscle. He made a cost/benefit decision to sacrifice mass to gain relative height and reach in a smaller division.

 

[campbecc]

He was big for 145 in terms of mass/weight, and he was already pretty cut/ripped. Dude was usually walking into the cage with an 8 pack and super chiseled even after being fully hydrated, but he was still water cutting 20 - 25 pounds by their own admission.

Better weight cut techniques helped, but he had to shed a lot of muscle.

he only had a few tough cuts and that was when he looked chubby for a fighter

 

[PunchyMcSplodo]

he only had a few tough cuts and that was when he looked chubby for a fighter

Aldo was almost never chubby at FW, dude, especially in the UFC and in his late 20's/early 30's.

Aldo looked like a marble statue with an 8 pack at UFC 200, while still being almost 170 lbs. That's big for a FW in terms of mass--it's just that the average FW frame waa getting longer and taller, so he decided to sacrifice muscle.

 

[campbecc]

Aldo was almost never chubby at FW, dude, especially in the UFC and in his late 20's/early 30's.

Aldo looked like a marble statue with an 8 pack at UFC 200, while still being almost 170 lbs. That's big for a FW in terms of mass, it's just that the average FW frame waa getting longer and taller, so he decided to sacrifice muscle.

he next to never had trouble making weight either.

 

[PunchyMcSplodo]

he next to never had trouble making weight either.

According to him and his camp, they struggled enough times to think about moving to LW.

Joe, Goldie, et al didn't just pull that talking point out of thin air.

Luckiky for Aldo, he was smart enough to realize that MMA doesn't have to be a body building competition.

 

[LincolnHawk1]

The sport and fighters evolve. Max being the younger fighter and fighting tough competition since his UFC debut is an accomplishment of its own. But you can't take away from Aldo's reign because he fought the best of his time too.

That's why I base it on how Max ends his career. Aldo kinda went downhill since his loss to McGregor. Max has done well since losing the belt but he's still beating top FWs. All I'm saying is it's a better discussion 5 yrs from now. I honestly don't see Aldo recapturing any gold. Let's see if where Max goes from here.

While we can’t fault Jose for defending his belt against the guys he was fighting, we must recognize that the fighters in the top ten of FW now are more well rounded and have advanced skills then the fighters at the time Jose was defending. Therefore we can’t base who the better champion is off longevity. The playing field is/was not equal because of competition. Jose was a great champion as was Max. It’s also easy to forget that Max road to fighting for a title involved a 10 fight winning streak before he got his shot at Jose for the belt. And that included a fight for the intern belt against former champ in a weight class higher in Pettis. So again in reality we can’t really answer this question.

 

[JustBleed69]

Did Holloway win because of age, cardio, iq etc? Or was he the better and more skilled kickboxer? Aldo always seemed to have cleaner and more impactful strikers. Never sloppy, plus when snacks fools their heads whip back. But max did what he did against kattar. So who's the better striker, technically speaking?

Max is just Aldo's kryptonite; Stance Switching boxer with endless cardio and granite chin.

 

[fortheo]

terrible take. The talent at FW has never been as deep as it is now. When Aldo was holding the belt the majority of his career, a majority of the guys he fought in championship fights would barely make the top 10 now. And I am both an Aldo and Max fan. It’s just the truth.

Many people consider 2014 ish to be the golden era of the FW division. Guys like Aldo, Frankie, Conor, Mendes, KZ, Cub, Poirier, Oliveira, and Lamas were all in the FW rankings around the same time.

All of these guys in their prime would almost certainly be able to make the rankings today. Hell, past prime KZ is still there. The sport doesn't evolve as fast as people think. The new generation of fighers tend to feast on old past prime generation, giving the illusion that the new generation is more evolved than it really is.

 

[Moosetony]

I think aldo is a better striker..its just max has better chin and cardio

 

[PunchyMcSplodo]

Many people consider 2014 ish to be the golden era of the FW division. Guys like Aldo, Frankie, Conor, Mendes, KZ, Cub, Poirier, Oliveira, and Lamas were all in the FW rankings around the same time.

All of these guys in their prime would almost certainly be able to make the rankings today. Hell, past prime KZ is still there. The sport doesn't evolve as fast as people think. The new generation of fighers tend to feast on old past prime generation, giving the illusion that the new generation is more evolved than it really is.

I think it's fair to say that some people take the "evolution of the sport" truism too far. However, likewise, I think fans of older school fighters are way too quick to fall back on "he must be past his prime" excuses to dismiss them falling short against the next breed of fighters. KZ, for example, is probably past his prime right now to some degree, but I wouldn't say he seemed past it in any significant way when he lost to Ortega last year--that version of Brian was very clearly just more creative and technically gifted with his feints, etc. than anything I've seen KZ display in his fights.

I'd actually agree with you that 2014 was a golden age for FW in terms of breadth of talent throughout the top 15--but that's partly because much of the next gen was already there, but hadn't completed their climb to the top for Aldo, Frankie, Mendes, et al to face them, yet (and some of them, like Max and Ortega, hadn't quite peaked, yet).

However, when it comes to the cream of the crop, fighters like Volk and prime Max are just clearly ahead of anyone fighting at FW in 2014, and Ortega and probably Giga (depending on how hisbTD holds up) would beat almost anyone not named Aldo and maybe Conor more often than not, IMO.

2014ers coukd still rank in the Top 10, and fighters like Aldo would be a title contender, but it's a sliding scale.

 

[Iron Nick]

Both on their best day, they're close from an overall technical standpoint, but i'd say Max is harder to predict and/or the pace he puts on certainly impedes his opponents ability to make decisions.

What people also need to keep in mind, is that prime Aldo wasn't like this Aldo + more physicality and more leg kicks, but like a worse boxer than current Aldo + more physicality and leg kicks.

I'd also say that the Max who fought Volkanovski in the second fight, Kattar and to an extent Rodriguez, is better than the Max that fought Aldo.

A vintage Aldo with his full ability to kick would've given Max problems, but like i said, the earlier into Aldo's carreer you go, the worse his boxing gets and though he obviously was always a very capable boxer, he was clearly not as good of a boxer, as he currently is.

Edit: what i forgot to mention, is that physically, Max has better attributes than Aldo, as much as this goes against the fetishism for explosivity and so on. God like cardio and a god like chin are hard to beat, so as long as one isn't comically slow.

 

[ryun253]

In terms of raw skill, probably Aldo. Maxs chin & cardio helps out a lot

 

[Iron Nick]

If you wanna learn as much as you can from their strengths on the feet, look at the blocking and slipping of current Aldo, at the kicking of a young(er) Aldo and at the offensive variety and the range management of Max Holloway in his three most recent fights, particularly Volk II and Kattar.

 

[Cpt Migraine]

he next to never had trouble making weight either.

This is not the hill to die on..

You're just wrong here..

 

[Cpt Migraine]

Gotta go with max.. they fought..

We can go around saying someone is just a good striker because of the take down threat, reach, chin, picograms, speed, power, accuracy, foot work, wizardry etc..

If it works it works.. we can't add and subtract stuff because we don't like outcomes..

 

[campbecc]

This is not the hill to die on..

You're just wrong here..

yeah you are right he was huge for 145, that's why he is able to make 135 with no problem.

 

[DrTrouble]

I mean Max won the clash of styles because he is more durable and throws more volume. Its hard to say who is BETTER tho. Aldo propably has the better overall kickboxing/MT technique in a traditional way. For whatever thats worth in an MMA fight.

Pretty easy for me to say who's better.

 

[Chael_Sonnen]

Yeah, but that doesn't make too much sense, because striking styles are built around having different attributes and weaknesses.

If you gave Aldo and Max equal bodies with all of each other's strengths and none of the weaknesses, neither of them would fight the same anymore.

I mean look, I agree, but it's never going to be a perfect scenario,

Obviously if Aldo was built like Holloway he would have a different style and vice versa.

 

[Jojomojo]

Pretty easy for me to say who's better.

Depends how you want to define "better".