max got greedy and tried to get a ko like justin

[clownkiller]

Never in my life, I've felt depressed about someone losing a match or a fight...but fuck man, watching one of my fav fighters Max Holloway
loosing broke my heart I'm sure if he fights Ilia again, he can beat the shit out of him, Justin Ko made him greedy in the ilia fight.

He did not respected ilias power and got KOed

 

[Superman Elbow]

No, Max's gameplan has always been pressure and volume punching. That is what he tried to do. For him to fight on the backfoot is not his style and will just lead to a worse beating for him.

 

[RockyLockridge]

Max got rocked, then while he was rocked Illa swarmed him and put him away.


There is no need to make excuses for max. He fought a younger stronger beast in their prime. There is no shame losing to the best.

 

[GrantB13]

How was he chasing a knockout?

 

[Captain Insano]

 

[YEET]

I think his gameplan was working until it wasn’t. I think his strategy was to strike his way towards a decision.

 

[MrBlackheart]

I love how before the fight Max fans are so cocky. Now they are crying and coping. That’s why I keep coming back to this site.

 

[LincolnHawk1]

He was using teep kicks and jabbing as he should have. His game plan was working until he got backed towards cage and ilia threw the left he didn’t see. Give props to ilia he has very fast hands and power to boot. Max was ahead on the strikes landed count heading into round 3. But with ilia you can’t make a mistake it doesn’t matter who you are. Max has one of the best chins in the game and took a few of those punches and ate them. Not many guys can do that without being dropped. Eventually that left caught him when he wa any the fence. Ilia is really good at that backing guys up to fence and then using his hand speed and combos to flatten them. I don’t see anyone at fw beating him any time soon the guy is probably going to go on a long run until the next young guy with speed athleticism and power who has a flawless style will come up in a couple years. Unfortunately in mma that is how it works.

 

[CasualBot]

Good fight, delusional take.

 

[StonedLemur]

Max got rocked, then while he was rocked Illa swarmed him and Ilia finished it. There is no shame losing.

 

[StoneWT]

Yeah, Ilia was/is just better than Max. Max will run away to 155. Volk and now Ilia beat him 9 out of 10 times. With them ruling the roost, new up and comers, and the knowledge that he can no longer rely on his chin to guarantee not being KO/TKO'd...there is no point in him staying. He'll get slaughtered at 155. Justin is pissed and wants revenge. Poirier beats him 9 out of 10 times. There are beasts at 155. Look for Max to never get a legit win again.

 

[StonedLemur]

Yeah, Ilia was/is just better than Max. Max will run away to 155. Volk and now Ilia beat him 9 out of 10 times. With them ruling the roost, new up and comers, and the knowledge that he can no longer rely on his chin to guarantee not being KO/TKO'd...there is no point in him staying. He'll get slaughtered at 155. Justin is pissed and wants revenge. Poirier beats him 9 out of 10 times. There are beasts at 155. Look for Max to never get a legit win again.

Just like this post.

 

[VinceArch]

It was a good fight, Ilia put his foot on the gas and started swinging with bad intentions and Max couldn't keep up. Basically the same thing that happened when Max beat Aldo back to back.

 

[MRT]

Max was doing well...working behind the jab and moving effectively.

The result is less about what Max did 'wrong' and more about what Ilia did well, IMHO.

 

[josh345]

I think if they fought 10 times max would win a number of them. Just not his night.

 

[checktheknuckles]

Max always gets punched in the face. It was always a matter of time before he fought someone with some power.

 

[Cheese_&_mma_lover]

He had the best legacy locked in. And he threw it all away....

just the fact he took the fight in the first place was heart breaking

 

[wrb]

Dude Max's loss is going to age well, he won one round for sure and Ilia needed to get that knockout as Max was conserving energy better and I could even see Max taking the lead if he got through the third. That's not cope or taking away from Ilia, he had a gameplan and he did it amazingly but remember he also said this was ending in the 1st which it did not and Max was hurting him. In the end he figured it out but it would be interesting if he could not and fight went into 4/5 rounds as he was hyper aggressively coming forward so I am sure he was getting tired.

 

[cburm]

Max felt for a left fake and ate a straight right clean
Illia showed fight iQ. Because he was losing all over that second round but he has power.

Max should of been points striking. And not staying in the pocket vs a powerful smart striker.

He should a Ben pointing and waiting for opportunity because illia would a gassed. And lost those later rounds. He did well and so did illia but you could say max underestimated him or got caught sure but greedy and wanting to brawl no.

 

[TheMMAnalyst]

Max felt for a left fake and ate a straight right clean
Illia showed fight iQ. Because he was losing all over that second round but he has power.

Max should of been points striking. And not staying in the pocket vs a powerful smart striker.

He should a Ben pointing and waiting for opportunity because illia would a gassed. And lost those later rounds. He did well and so did illia but you could say max underestimated him or got caught sure but greedy and wanting to brawl no.

Illia was chewing up his calf and pressuring him non-stop, it's exhausting to fight off the back foot non-stop, at some points Max had to try and plant his feet and exchange to get some respect and stop the pressure.

Give Ilia some credit for implementing a smart game-plan that complimented his style, Max was putting solid work on him and it never truly deterred him from pushing forward and throwing those kicks at random times and stringing together different entries off different st-ups.