UFC Fight Night: 445 strikes landed in one fight- Max Holloway is making his hands do the talking

There are too many things to like and too little to dislike about Max Holloway. He is an eye-pleasing fighter with a style that makes fans get up and take notice. He puts relentless pressure on his opponents with his cardio and boxing. When Holloway (22-6) gets going, he starts rolling. The former UFC Featherweight champion was again in his elements on Sunday.

After a mediocre 2020 where he lost his rematch to Alexander Volkanowski. Even though it was a very close fight, it looked like it could trigger the downfall of one of UFC’s greatest. But Holloway proved otherwise. The Hawaiian was in ominous form during the five-round fight where he absolutely battered Calvin Kattar in the main event of UFC Fight Night.

Kattar tried hard to stay on but the pace and pressure of Holloway’s striking absolutely overwhelmed him. It came to such a stage that the commentators were suggesting for Kattar’s coaches to throw the towel in to save the fighter from further damage. But he continued till the fifth round. The confidence was so high that Holloway even started talking to the commentators mid-fight when they were talking about his boxing.

Holloway attempted a mind-boggling 746 strikes during the fight. He broke his own UFC record for strikes landed as he hit Kattar with 445 of those (according to UFC though it is disputed). Kattar also had a career-best 133 significant strikes and the fight made two UFC records for combined significant strikes (578) and significant strike differential (312). 274 of those strikes landed on Kattar’s head. And the picture of him during the fight is a testament to that.

Unsurprisingly, the judges scored the contest in Holloway’s favour. With one judge David Lethaby even scoring the fight 42–50, which was the first time since 2006 that a fight has been scored 50-42.

With all due respect to Kattar, Holloway showed that there are levels to this game, and he is a notch above the 6th-ranked American.

No prizes for guessing that everyone has started talking about a rematch with Volkanowski. The second fight between the two could have gone either way on the scorecard but the Australian’s position as the champion went in his favour. Volkanowski is facing Brian Ortega for the title later this year and the winner could be the next opponent for ‘Blessed’.

Holloway did not ask for a rematch with Volkanowski but he let his hands do the talking. It is the fans and critics who are demanding a match between the two featherweights now. Action speaks louder than words.

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