Ok so you admit he gets hit a lot but still give him 8 out of 10 ? Would you like to revise that opinion ?
Of the top ten featherweights in the world, I would say zabit, pitbull, volkanovski and Ortega (aside the max butchering) all have better defence. Hell even yair probably gets hit less. Max is a better fighter than all of them though imo
His overall defense is good to fit his style - when he is trying to be defensive and counter he’s got pretty good evasive footwork and head movement and is able to slip and find angles consistently.
When he pressures with volume he’s there to be countered since he’s so jab-heavy, but he uses his chin and will (as you noted) to allow him to counter the counter and push a pace of striking volume few can keep up with. It’s attritional offensive where defensive priorities are sacrificed to fit his style.
That’s why I think he has good defense - he gets in striking battles where he almost always hits his opponent way more then he gets hit. So he’s setting the engagements in a way where his style tends to produce better defensive results for him comparatively to his opponents. It’s not perfect but it seems to work pretty well until he runs into a perfect foil like Volk or moves up against real hitters at LW without adjusting to the division and trying to change his style up.
Zabit - Great until he gasses, then can’t rely on all the movement and is there to get tagged. So he’s better then Max, until he’s worse then Max, and that’s in a 3 round fight.
Volk - Arguably the best in the division currently, yet still got out struck by Max for large portions second fight and dropped...twice. Do you just credit Max’s offense or is it not in concurrency with Volk’s defensive flaws?
Pitbull - Not in UFC but nice to see him get some respect on his name in these streets. Looks like he’s somehow getting better at striking even past his physical prime, flawless defensive performances as of late. Need to see against a few more elite opponents to truly gauge, but very impressive indeed.
Ortega - Looked unbelievable in one fight against Zombie where he showed a revamped game with amazing strategy. But it was one fight against a foot-slow fighter that played into his game. We need to see a few more fights to claim his defense is elite, that’s insane - until his last fight he was arguably one the worst defensive fighters in the division.
Yair - He got handily out struck by Zombie before the hail mary KO. The very guy that you stake your claim on Ortega being elite defensively against. His defensive is good at kicking range but boxing in the pocket, not so much.
Whether I call it an 8/10 or 7/10 does the overall point of the argument I was making change? Or are you saying you think his defense is close to a 3/10 like he’s saying?
