Max Holloway Fighting Style: Is the Ex-UFC Champ the Best Boxer as He Claims to Be?

Former featherweight champion Max Holloway will make his lightweight return at UFC 300. He will be up against Justin Gaethje, as the latter will put his BMF title up for grabs. As Holloway prepares for his upcoming bout, we will take a look at his fighting background to learn about his fighting style.

Despite an unfavorable outing against Dustin Poirier in 2020, Max Holloway seems to have a point to prove as he gears up for the Justin Gaethje clash. As we all know, ‘The Highlight’ has claimed to be the most violent fighter in the UFC and he has proved it time and time again. Now, the real question is if Hollway’s fighting style will be able to complement Gaethje’s style. Let’s have a look at that front.

Max Holloway’s fighting style!

Max Holloway was in Honolulu and had a tough upbringing. His mother had a drug addiction problem while his father left when he was about 11 years old. He got his first taste of fight training when he was 15 years old and started kickboxing training. Holloway excelled so fast that he had his first amateur fight just a few days after he started his training. But he soon turned to MMA and became a pro fighter in 2010.

Max Holloway has developed to become a formidable striker, amassing 11 knockouts in his professional fighting career so far. He also developed the tenacity to be a high-volume pressure fighter, with an excellent jab in his arsenal and a love for flying knee strikes. Besides having excellent striking skills, which can be credited to his kickboxing training and even boxing, ‘Blessed’ is also well with grappling skills, especially Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu.

What BJJ belt does Max Holloway hold?

The former featherweight champion trains in jiu-jitsu under Professor Rylen Lizares. With the latter’s training, Max Holloway earned some significant submissions victories with the help of moves like the guillotine choke. Following those victories, Prof. Lizares decided to promote ‘Blessed’ from purple to brown belt in 2021. Nevertheless, Holloway believed at that time, that he still had some miles to go.

“Got an upgrade in my belt yesterday but the work ain’t done yet. Let’s goooo,” wrote Max Holloway following his brown belt promotion. Now that we’ve established both aspects of the former 145-pound kingpin’s fighting style, it is important to note that Holloway has made a name for himself with his excellent striking ability, prompting discussions regarding his status as the best boxer in Dana White‘s promotion.

Is ‘Blessed’ the best boxer in the UFC?

Max Holloway blew the roof off the venue when he started yelling, “Count it up! I’m the best boxer in the UFC, baby,” to the commentators while fighting Calvin Kattar at UFC Fight Island 7. It was and still is one of the most iconic moments in UFC history. If we look at Hollway’s stats to substantiate his claim, there could be some truth to it. According to UFC’s record books, ‘Blessed’ has landed more significant strikes on his opponents than any other fighter in the history of the promotion with 3,197 strikes in total. He leads the charge in this department by a long way.

Apart from having the record for the most significant strikes, Max Holloway also holds the record for most total strikes landed on their opponents with 3,441 strikes. With these records under his belt, the former featherweight champion has already cemented his status in the UFC as one of its best ever.

Read More: Conor McGregor Picks Dee Devlin Over His $200M Riches in a Heartbeat

While these records can be broken over time since new fighters are bound to come up in the future. But what happens at UFC 300 is totally under Max Holloway’s control. Will he play spoilers for Justin Gaethje in the latter’s first BMF title defense? We will have to wait and see how things pan out on April 13.

Also Read: “If LeBron James Went Out There…” – Drawing Parallels, Max Holloway Underlines MMA’s Harsh Reality