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Max Holloway vs Calvin Kattar discussion

DivineMind said:
Max is a more complete mma fighter. I think if he fights smart and keeps mixing it up like he did in Volk 2, he beats Kattar. If he plays Kattars game and boxes, he would likely lose. Max by decision.
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Lemme hear your premises

I don't think he's more complete It's possibly the other way around
 
DivineMind said:
Max is a more complete mma fighter. I think if he fights smart and keeps mixing it up like he did in Volk 2, he beats Kattar. If he plays Kattars game and boxes, he would likely lose. Max by decision.
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I agree that Max is a more complete fighter, but IMO is what makes him more complete probably doesn’t give him an advantage against Kattar. For sure Max is a better anti-wrestler, but I don’t think that comes into play. I think he has a better kicking attack overall too, but probably not enough to make a difference.
 
Max wins 4 rounds to 1 imo ....... But it’s a entertaining fight
 
Kattar has length and good striking, but Max's boxing is on another level.

Kattar will land some shots, but Max's accuracy and volume is going to make it difficult for Kattar to implement his game.

Should be a good fight, but I expect Max will remind people how elite he is.
 
Kattar has a 3 inch advantage and way more power.
Bad matchup for Holloway.
Kattar cuts more weight and probably will be heavier in the cage. But he has way way less stamina.

Kattar wins the early rounds, but Max will come back later. If he doesn't take too much damage.
 
I'm sort of favoring Max by Decision -- I think Kattar's boxing and physicality will allow him to land some very hard shots, particularly early on -- he might even take one or both rounds, but I think Max will start to take over in the second half of the fight as his cardio and five-round experience starts to shine. Calvin has experienced less success against lengthier kickboxers who can tag him at range (like Moicano and Zabit). Max's reach is actually less than that of Calvin despite their height being the same, but Holloway is pretty good at artificially inflating his reach by fighting long and keeping his punches straight and firing them straight down the pipe. I suspect he'll mix in some leg and body kicks here as well, as Volk did against him in their first fight.

I've seen some suggest that Calvin might be able to beat Max the same way Dustin could -- by being able to match him in regards to boxing fundamentals while being the bigger man in the cage, more powerful, with longer reach, etc. However, Dustin had the cardio and experience to consistently hang with Holloway for 5 rounds and pressure him for the duration. Even then, Poirier took plenty of shots and lost one (arguably two) round(s) depending on who you ask.

I wouldn't be overly surprised to see Cattar get the upset. In all honesty I hope he does -- he's one of the more exciting and game guys at 145. I like watching him, more so than Blessed in all honesty. But when I run the fight through my head, I see Max getting the nod more times than not.
 
Kattar is going to piece max up IMO. Reach + better boxing, Max's only advantages are cardio and movement.
 
I think this is set for a decision. I’d be very surprised if it ended inside the distance.
 
If Kattar's hands and nose hold up, I will be surprised by anything other than a decisive win or TKO. I think Holloway has been figured out and Kattar has the exact tools and skillset to exploit that.

It seems pretty clear at this point that Holloway's volume-heavy style doesn't hold up against precision punchers with superior firepower. Kattar has the endurance to go the distance if he needs to as well. Holloway has gotten some wins over guys based on physical tools, he's lost when he doesn't have those advantages. He just isn't as technical as a lot of people wanted him to be.
 
Kattar has better boxing than Max which we haven't really said about any fighter that Max has fought.

It's a step up for Kattar and a win probably gets him a title shot.

For some reason I just can't look past Max,
 
Kattar is older but is the fresher fighter IMO. I think he also has the better boxing and reach advantage that could pose problems for Max whom got soundly outboxed by Dustin (which I know is a different style from Calvin). Close fight but I'd go with Kattar.
 
The fight will go the distance.

3-2 Max/Kattar by UD/SD

No one is getting finished there.

Kattar either Dust Max in the first 3 and lose a step loosing the last 2
Or
Kattar kinda wins the first 2 but max's veteran's guile allows him the win to last 3 rounds and win
 
Harlekin said:
Kattar has a 3 inch advantage and way more power.
Bad matchup for Holloway.
Kattar cuts more weight and probably will be heavier in the cage. But he has way way less stamina.

Kattar wins the early rounds, but Max will come back later. If he doesn't take too much damage.
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Bro come on Holloway is litteraly the biggest/one of the biggest weight cutter in the division.
The bigger man is clearly Holloway he's at least 170 in the cage.
The dude could not not even make weight safely at 155 on short notice.
 
These guys are so evenly matched.
I’m glad I’m not the judge because this fight has the perfect recipe for 10-10 type of rounds.

My pick is a controversial decision in a competitive 5 round war. More than one round will be razor thin.

The X factor will be pace and cardio. Signs point to Kattar having early success and Max coming on late.

So, looking at it like a long distance race, will Max time his move correctly and pull away to win at least 3 rounds?

another factor will be body shots. Can either man land enough big shots to the body to slow the other down and be able to take control of the fight?
 
I look at this fight and I see that Max has more tools. I think if hes heavy on the kicking and switching stances consistently it will give Kattar a harder time getting reads.
Max is lucky because he has the option of fighting a rangey match with kattar and going into his old pressure boxing style if needed aswell. I like both guys a ton and both will fight for the title (in Max's case again). @fortheo is a big Kattar fan so im willing to be proven wrong.
Another reason is that Max has had way more 5 round fights than Kattar. It doesn't seem like much but his experience means a lot here. 10/10 fight to open up the year though.
 
Safton said:
I'm sort of favoring Max by Decision -- I think Kattar's boxing and physicality will allow him to land some very hard shots, particularly early on -- he might even take one or both rounds, but I think Max will start to take over in the second half of the fight as his cardio and five-round experience starts to shine. Calvin has experienced less success against lengthier kickboxers who can tag him at range (like Moicano and Zabit). Max's reach is actually less than that of Calvin despite their height being the same, but Holloway is pretty good at artificially inflating his reach by fighting long and keeping his punches straight and firing them straight down the pipe. I suspect he'll mix in some leg and body kicks here as well, as Volk did against him in their first fight.

I've seen some suggest that Calvin might be able to beat Max the same way Dustin could -- by being able to match him in regards to boxing fundamentals while being the bigger man in the cage, more powerful, with longer reach, etc. However, Dustin had the cardio and experience to consistently hang with Holloway for 5 rounds and pressure him for the duration. Even then, Poirier took plenty of shots and lost one (arguably two) round(s) depending on who you ask.

I wouldn't be overly surprised to see Cattar get the upset. In all honesty I hope he does -- he's one of the more exciting and game guys at 145. I like watching him, more so than Blessed in all honesty. But when I run the fight through my head, I see Max getting the nod more times than not.
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Max has only gone 5 full rounds 4 times, and he lost 3 of those fights. Kattar has gone 5 rounds two times and looked better in championship rounds than the early rounds. I'm not disagreeing with you though, max certainly has the experience advantage in big fights and five rounders, but I've seen nothing to suggest that conditioning is a problem for kattar.
 
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