Gathje could end up being the thing that starts off Max’s decline, hes likely to take some serious damage in that one. I hope i’m wrong.
Ortega went 1-0 after losing to Max and got a title shot vs Volk. Rodriguez went 2-0 after losing to max to get his shot vs Volk. Even before Volk was champ, Aldo went 2-0 vs the field after going 0-2 vs Max and then he lost to Volk.
Korean Zombie got to fight Volk for the title before he fought and lost to Max.
Topuria has got to skip Max to get his shot vs Volk like Zombie did.
UFC used to have a lot of challengers skip Benavidez and fight him after they fought Mighty Mouse for the title.
When I saw UFC book Kattar and Allen vs Max you knew they were in no rush to give either man a shot and they would not be getting a shot after going 1-0 after losing to Max like Ortega did.
The next challenger for Volk will most likely be someone who has got to skip Max like Topuria and Zombie did.
Not a lot of great options for challengers at the moment if Volk handles Topuria. Emmett, Kattar and Barboza are only 3-2 in their last five and Allen just lost to Max.
I guess if Chikadze got a big win over Emmett or something, at least he is 4-1 and fresh talent.
Guess they want to see what Sterling can do going up but I’m not expecting much of him at FW.
So yeah, guess it comes down to how Chikadze, Sterling and Evloev look here in their next fights.
This thread was about Max Holloway’s resume.
I did ask whose is better though. I mean, posting other great resume’s takes nothing away from Max. His is definitely top tier, no debating that.
No anymore scrub.
I will say it’s exceedingly rare to have top level guy in the UFC with over 30 fights, having fought all top guys since his run started, and really only losing to a few guys. His losses:
Dennis Bermudez
Conor McGregor
Dustin Poirier x2
Vokanovski x3
He has really only lost to four guys. One of them a former undisputed double champ, the other a former interim champ and 2x title challenger, and Dennis Bermudez. Bermudez is not at the level of the others but was a good fighter himself, and beat Max at a time when Max didn’t have much of a ground game.
Max’s losses to Dennis and Conor, and his first loss to Dustin, were very early in his career. His only losses during his “run” are Poirier at 155, and Volk, that’s pretty fucking impressive. He has fought the younger guys coming up, and former champs, and current elites. There are not a lot of guys that have done that.
I also think current Max beats Bermudez and probably even prime Conor. It kind of reminds me of Aldo when he lost his belt. He wasn’t quite there at the championship level, but he was still top 3, and beating the younger and older guys.
Bermudez, Connor and Dustin 1 were all when he was young and pre-prime. Dustin 2 was a weight up and there’s really only Volk who’s beat him at his weight in his prime.
A Connor rematch would have been interesting but if at LW, would give Connor a better chance. But Max got a chin and his volume and cardio could wear Connor down ala Nate.
Jim Miller’s got some legends and killers on his.