Five charts that show the absurdity of Max Holloway
Despite a pair of losses against UFC featherweight champion Alexander Volkanovski, Max Holloway remains one of the best fighters in the sport and a statistical marvel. The last time we saw him in the cage, he dispatched Calvin Kattar in a fight that set a variety of records, some of which will likely stand for years to come.
Not only was it the most significant strikes landed in a UFC fight (445), but it was also the largest differential between two fighters (312). Holloway, of course, also has the second highest striking difference in UFC history from when he outlanded Brian Ortega by 180 significant strikes. That Katter performance mapped against the rest of the UFC fights from this year shows just how absurd it was.
Currently there 78 ranked UFC fighters who have landed fewer significant strikes in the promotion than Holloway landed that one night against Kattar. The 2618 landed significant strikes in his career are the UFC record. Frankie Edgar is currently second with 819 fewer.
Obviously Holloway is not just a stats accumulator. He has prodigious striking volume, and he regularly puts it on display. His significant strikes landed per minute rate currently stands at 7.26, which is the sixth highest in UFC history among fighters with at least five fights. It also ranks seventh among currently ranked fighters. Holloway does this while absorbing only 4.58 per minute for a +2.68 striking differential.
Holloway reaches his high striking rate with both impressive volume and accuracy. He attempts 15.57 significant strikes per minute, which is the third highest among ranked fighters behind only Manon Fiorot (16.77) and Chris Daukaus (16.94). Despite this high volume, Holloway still lands a respectable 47% of his attempts. As you can see in the following chart, many fighters with high volume throw so many strikes to make up for a lack of consistent accuracy. That is not the case for Holloway.
Another impressive aspect of Holloway’s striking prowess is that he is able to have such a high differential while doing the vast majority of his striking while standing and fighting at distance. Some fighters with absurd differentials achieve this by scoring takedowns and working from the top position (looking at you Khamzat Chimaev). 87% of Holloway’s landed significant strikes have come at distance. No other fighter in the top 10 for striking differential has such a high proportion of distance strikes.
If the preceding charts make it look like the deck is stacked against Yair Rodriguez, that is probably for good reason. Holloway is as high as a -850 favorite on the books. While Rodriguez has some impressive wins on his resume, he has never faced a fighter with volume like Holloway. On top of that, he has shown some defensive weakness at times. Only Volkanovski has been able to slow down the striking attack of Holloway, so Rodriguez will likely need to rely on his power to pull off the upset.
