Probably isn't getting enough quality work from southpaws It can be confusing if you're not used to It. Especially if you're reliant on your lead hand as Max Is. Only two southpaws he's fought are Poirier and Conor i think think that's a big issue with Hawaii, lack of adequate training partners.
He needs to stay at 145 or commit to 155 and get really bigger. The size was the difference. Also, he needs to include the threat of the takedown in his arsenal, it will open up his striking.
That was definitely one huge factor..but he just seemed out of his element. I wouldn't doubt that fighting the rare southpaw of his career fucked him up a bit, especially if he didn't adequately prepare for it.
@MescalineDreams, I think you are right. But the deeper problems I think, besides southpaws, for him is to find a way to deal with the jab. He is eating all jabs people throw at him, and this was something I realised when I got curious and decided yesterday to rewatched his Pettis fight, Aldo and Ortega... My observation is that attrition based pressure fighters live and die on momentum. They just can't afford to start and stop all the time because their punches aren't meant to be a single shots or in short bursts. They have to be together in a bunch to really do some damage and progress towards decision win or a TKO. Jabbing makes them stop and reset every time. Poirier jabbed all night as far as I can remember. Was this the reason that lost Max this fight? Probably not. But I think was a big chunk of it.
It was a size problem, almost exclusively. He didn't bulk up into 155, he simply cut 10 less pounds of water weight, so he showed up the smaller guy and Dustin bullied him and won most of the exchanges, and Max simply isnt that good when he's not the one moving forward & pressuring. For max to be a contender at 155 he needs to actually gain some muscle to where he can no longer make 145.
Dustin actually Kept nailing Max when he shifted in to orthodox and came over with massive right hands. But yeah, Max seems to struggle to land as frequently as he usually does when facing southpaws.
^ This Max also needs to not to check his chin's ego at the door. In the 1st round he should have been moving around and getting reads on Poirier - it's a 5 round fight. Instead, as soon as Max ate several hard shots, he was doing "come at me bro" and started brawling. What happened to the patient Max from the 1st fight against Aldo? Poirier was the bigger, more powerful fighter. The smart play is to wait until the opponent is a bit tired and then start taking more risks. That's what Max did in both Aldo fights, especially the rematch. Before this fight I rated Max as one of the highest IQ fighters on the roster. But he was just plain stupid in the 1st round of the rematch against Poirier. I'm a huge Holloway fan and it was super frustrating to watch.
