Max Holloway: Lather, Rinse, Defeat

Do you think anyone would notice if, instead of writing a new column about Max Holloway’s thrilling third round TKO of Jose Aldo at UFC 218 on Saturday night, I just repost my column of Max Holloway’s thrilling third round TKO of Jose Aldo from UFC 212 last June?

Yeah, probably not. I know Lord Csonka wouldn’t. Most of you wouldn’t either, since most of you only click on my writing to give yourself something to do while waiting for Lambert to post his 15th column of the week. That guy is a workhorse. Or unemployed.

I kid, or course. I wish I had that much free time and lack of real world responsibilities.

At least I can still get out to enjoy a quality UFC card every now and then, and UFC 218 delivered some quality moments. We got two Fight of the Year caliber dogfights as Yancy Medeiros finished ahead of Alex “No, Not THAT Cowboy” Oliveira and Eddie Alvarez outpaced Justin Gaethje just enough to finish the brawler by being the more technical brawler.

Also, Angela Magana lost. I imagine Cris Cyborg must be happy about that.

Angela also popped out of her top, which…yeah, no. I’m not going there.

Plus, the heavyweight division officially has a new Blade Runner and his name is Francis Ngannou.

I may write more later about Ngannou and his soul stealing first round knockout of Alistair Overeem in the co-main event but UFC better give him the next title shot after delivering up something as Hot ‘N Ready as that.

Get it? Because the show took place at Little Caesars Arena? You have no idea how excited I am that I can make an awful pizza joke today. Yay capitalism!

Seriously though, did you guys know there’s a place in Detroit where you can throw footballs at bowling pins? If doing stuff like that and throwing axes days out from competing against the man who, at one point, was considered the best fighter in the weight class, maybe I need to start working on my spiral.

Obviously, there was more to Holloway’s victory on Saturday than just that. Still, if there was any doubt as to how good he is at this point, beating Aldo twice should wipe that away.

Or at least it proves he knows how to beat Aldo, which I’m sure a lot of fighters will claim to know how to do but very few have been able to, and Holloway’s the only one who’s been able to do it without playing any mind games first.

The rematch, which came together because Frankie Edgar pulled out due to injury and Aldo, having nothing to lose for once, decided it was worth becoming a short notice challenger, played out very similarly to the first fight.

If there was any difference between the two fights, it was Aldo’s aggressiveness, as he seemed much more active at the start of the June fight, taking the first two rounds fairly convincingly before getting flattened in the third.

This rematch started out a much more even affair. The first two rounds were very close, as both men attacked but were more keen to move in and out of the pocket instead of stand in the middle of it.

That changed in the third, as Holloway’s plan to slowly draw Aldo out worked to perfection, ratcheting up the action at the exact right time for the champion to take advantage of the fact his opponent was gassing out.

That is, of course, one of the universal truths of MMA: water is wet, sea-level Cain beats altitude Cain, and Jose Aldo is going to gas out.

All fighters know it’ll happen. Only Max Holloway has been able to successfully utilize that knowledge to achieve victory, and he’s now done it twice. That’s impressive. It’s definitely something you would expect the best featherweight fighter in the world to be able to do, especially considering that Conor McGregor is unlikely to fight at 145 again, or ever, as he’s too busy slapping Bellator employees and Irish mobsters to focus on this small ball “legitimate fight” nonsense.

What will be interesting to see now is how UFC makes use of Max, as, while there’s a lot of talent at 145, it’s going to be hard to find a worthy challenger against the man who stopped Aldo twice.

The most obvious next fight is the one that was supposed to happen on Saturday, Frankie Edgar, which will be a unique stylistic matchup for Max, as it’ll be hard to use the same strategy he used for Aldo against one of the best MMA wrestlers and one of the best gas tanks in the UFC.

Beyond that? I dunno. Cub Swanson, maybe, even though Max has already beaten him. Ricardo Lamas could find himself in a position to challenge, although I’m sure Dana White would certainly be busy counting all the dollars he won’t make if that fight gets booked.

Hey, maybe Chan Sung Jung can get a shot. More Korean Zombie is always a good thing, right?

Regardless of what or who’s next, one thing definitely seems certain: The Blessed Era, as annoying as it is to refer to every championship reign as an “era,” may be for real. Max is only 25 so we could be seeing his lanky face sitting on top the featherweight pile for a very long time.

25? Damn. That kid is going to be eating a lot of cupcakes…

Evan Zivin has been writing for 411 MMA since May of 2013. Evan loves the sport, and likes to takes a lighthearted look at the world of MMA in his writing…usually.