"Max looks worse than usual" No, you just have recency bias from the Kattar fight.

[achoo42]

Exactly. Same old Max. It's a shame he doesn't invest more into defense. But so far no one has KO'd him so he just doesn't seem to feel the need to improve that part of his game.

Yup. Unfortunately, it's quite possible that he will degrade just like Tony did if he keeps this up.

 

[NationWideNinja]

Everyone has clean fights once in awhile. Not everyone has the highest amount of significant strikes absorbed per minute in the UFC.

See what I'm saying? People are literally criticizing the most hit fighter for getting hit a lot as if he usually doesn't get hit a lot.

There story of his fights is usually his relentless pressure leading him to getting hit a lot, with his opponents usually wilting later on. The Poirier and Yair fights are the only ones where I feel he was just getting hit without his pressure gameplan really working. His wrestling saved him here.

 

[achoo42]

There story of his fights is usually his relentless pressure leading him to getting hit a lot, with his opponents usually wilting later on. The Poirier and Yair fights are the only ones where I feel he was just getting hit without his pressure gameplan really working. His wrestling saved him here.

It didn't happen in either Volkanovski fight. But yes, against more conventional strikers this usually happens. Yair is anything but.

 

[NationWideNinja]

It didn't happen in either Volkanovski fight. But yes, against more conventional strikers this usually happens. Yair is anything but.

The Volkanovski fights he didn’t necessarily eat a lot of punches to the face if memory serves me correctly. I feel like Dustin and Yair were the only ones where he really seemed outmatched in the striking department and getting banged up. Against Aldo it served a purpose and it was obvious the tides were gonna shift in the later rounds. In his fights on route to the belt I honestly dont remember him taking a lot of punishment.

 

[dmwalking]

There story of his fights is usually his relentless pressure leading him to getting hit a lot, with his opponents usually wilting later on. The Poirier and Yair fights are the only ones where I feel he was just getting hit without his pressure gameplan really working. His wrestling saved him here.

His pressure was definitely working. His pressure was forcing Yair to stay active and this contributed to Yair slowing down. He just needed to mix in the grappling to help slow Yair down a bit more and swing momentum in his favor. I mean, it wasn't flawless, but the game plan still worked in his favor in the end.

Edit: if anything, his chin is what saved him. I'd say 95% of that division would have crumbled under a lot of those strikes that Yair landed on Max.

Yair landed the hardest strikes, but Max landed more and simply outworked Yair. Mostly because of his constant pressure whether it was punches or takedowns. His pressure won him the fight.

 

[taugrim]

Max eats a ton of shots in nearly every fight he takes. He has one of the highest number of significant strikes absorbed per minute in UFC history

The only time I saw Max affected by strikes during his long streak was against Poirier.

Yes, Max eats shots, but he rolls a lot of punches and when he's eating shots to the head he's usually got his opponent on the opponent's back foot.

 

[chs140]

Amazing how a fighter can go from "performance of a lifetime!" to "old, slow, needs to retire" in just one fight.

Not really. Some people get old fast.
Not saying that's what happened here. It does certainly happen though.

 

[achoo42]

Not really. Some people get old fast.
Not saying that's what happened here. It does certainly happen though.

True. Off the top of my head, fighters that declined quickly after big losses:
-Tony Ferguson
-BJ Penn
-TWood
-Cowboy
-Spider
-Weidman
-James Vick
-Carlos Condit
-Ronda Rousey
-Renan Barao
-JDS
-Tito Ortiz
-Gray Maynard

Fighters that aged well after big losses:
-Teixera
-Aldo
-Edgar
-Robbie Lawler
-Oliveira
-Fedor
-Jan
-Barboza
-Anthony Smith
-Randy Couture
-Andrei Arlovski
-Brandon Moreno

 

[drbolony]

Despite the 2 year layoff, that's the best Yair you're ever going to see. He was able to open up because he felt confident fighting a pure striker, never forget how Yair frustrated Zabit into retirement. Yair gambled and trued to pick and choose his way to the top. He put up a valiant effort, but ultimately he made Max look like a D1 wrestler. He obviously still has some work to do before trying to will his way into a championship.

This was a fast, dynamic striker vs a volume puncher with educated pressure. Of course Max got touched up more than usual, that's just the way this match up was always going to work. Max may have amazing footwork, but his head is pretty station art at times. Fast guys tend to be able to touch him up (Conor, Aldo) because of it.

 

[Pancake Sprawl]

The Sunday-morning opinions about Max regressing or whatever are annoying. The condition of a fighter during and after a fight is a two-way thing. It's their personal condition and how the opponent affects them.

And it's difficult if not impossible to appreciate all of the little differences in two fights and take into account the starting conditions of each. I think the best we can do is sit back and watch the general trajectory of their career, rather than pick particular points within it.

they say it after every Max fight. i remember after him dominating the fuck out of Aldo twice, people acted like he survived a Edgar/Maynard type of beating in order to come back and win. after the Dustin fight they acted like Dustin destroyed him and not that it was a close fight that Dustin looked like he was starting to lose until that big knee.

for whatever reason lots of people secretly dislike Max here and passive aggressively put on this fake persona like they're just caring about his well-being when in reality they just want to sneak diss him.

 

[Metatron]

People were literally saying the same thing about Usman in his recent fight.

 

[Kdup]

I think the thing we can take away from all this is that Max has been fighting the best fighters in the world for like 10 years and has never been KO, while being hit by some of the hardest hitters at his weight class. There is just something about that Hawaiian/Polynesian/Samoan head/skull that is immune to concussions. The brain is covered by such a thick skull that they cannot be KOd by mere mortals. Anywho, Max is only 29, and chances are he has a long life full of CTE ahead of him. But goddamn is he entertaining to watch, I hated max when he came up, but he has grown on me much like bisping, to the point where I am now a fanboy. I fucking love him and I hope he gets a red panty night with McG and KOs that clown cold.

 

[achoo42]

People were literally saying the same thing about Usman in his recent fight.

Do people not remember that the first fight against Colby was dead even until Usman got the TKO

 

[chs140]

True. Off the top of my head, fighters that declined quickly after big losses:
-Tony Ferguson
-BJ Penn
-TWood
-Cowboy
-Spider
-Weidman
-James Vick
-Carlos Condit
-Ronda Rousey
-Renan Barao
-JDS
-Tito Ortiz
-Gray Maynard

Fighters that aged well after big losses:
-Teixera
-Aldo
-Edgar
-Robbie Lawler
-Oliveira
-Fedor
-Jan
-Barboza
-Anthony Smith
-Randy Couture
-Andrei Arlovski
-Brandon Moreno

The big one for me is running backs in the NFL. They'll age out almost literally overnight.
Kick returners too.

 

[gluehuffer1776]

Max will end up like tony ferguson if he keeps this up

 

[teamfox223]

Yair is a great striker maybe best at 145 atm still need to work on TTD getting dominated 3rd by Jeremy Stephens on the ground is not gonna get you a championship belt.

 

[achoo42]

Yair is a great striker maybe best at 145 atm still need to work on TTD getting dominated 3rd by Jeremy Stephens on the ground is not gonna get you a championship belt.

Yup. Regardless of cardio issues, Yair loses to Zabit for this reason.

 

[6 Pack Lapadat]

Lets not act like this is your typical Max performance. Hes had plenty of fairly clean and one-sided wins as well

Thank you!!!

Watch the rematch with Volk again. Max is skilled and doesn't get hit like that in all his fights.

 

[achoo42]

Thank you!!!

Watch the rematch with Volk again. Max is skilled and doesn't get hit like that in all his fights.

No one says he's not skilled. But like Gaethje and Ferguson, he is a fighter who is willing to eat a lot to throw a lot.

 

[Sickbro69420]

It was a great fight. Max impressed me again.