Despite losing thrice to the featherweight champion Alexander Volkanovski, Max Holloway still remains one of the best fighters to ever grace the Octagon. The 31-year-old has fought the likes of Conor McGregor, Dustin Poirier, and Jose Aldo, among several UFC greats. Every time the Hawaiian steps inside the cage, fans expect nothing but fireworks.
His performance against Calvin Kattar is still considered one of the most lopsided beatdowns in MMA history. The September 2021 main event set a variety of records for Holloway, some of which will likely remain unbroken for years to come.
Max Holloway has landed more significant strikes in his last 10 fights (1,883) than anyone else has landed over their entire career in UFC history
— MMA By The Numbers (@NumbersMMA) November 15, 2021
Not only did he land the most significant strikes in a UFC fight (445), but it was also recorded as the largest differential between two athletes (312). Max also bagged the second-highest striking difference record in the company’s history when he out-landed former title challenger Brian Ortega by 180 significant strikes.
How many strikes did Max Holloway absorb in his UFC career?
There is no doubt ‘Blessed‘ loves dishing out a record number of significant strikes to his opponents. He also happens to be the only UFC athlete to complete 25 Octagon outings without suffering a knockdown. However, the 31-year-old has absorbed an ungodly amount of strikes in the process.
Against Dustin Poirier, Max ate a whopping 181 significant strikes. His fight with Frankie Edgar saw him eating 96 strikes in return. During his first encounter with Volkanovski, Alex served 134 significant strikes to Max. During the rematch, Holloway ate 137 significant strikes. In his beatdown of Calvin Kattar, Max absorbed 133 significant strikes in return.
After his fight with Yair Rodriguez, UFC stats reported that Max had absorbed 1811 significant strikes in UFC bouts, the most in the promotion’s history. Add his third battle with Volkanovski to this (199), the number rises to a staggering 2010 significant strikes.
Through the course of his last eight bouts, Max has absorbed an average of 124 significant strikes. That’s almost 1000 strikes eaten since December 2018.
When will ‘Blessed’ retire?
Just days before his rubber match with Alexander Volkanovski, Max touched on the subject of his retirement. When asked if he would like to fight in his 40s, Max said,
“No, probably not. Never, probably not. I don’t want to [fight in my 40s]. I wouldn’t want to. If you guys love me that much, make sure you come through to the stream. I stream on Facebook Gaming. I play Apex Legends if you guys are into it.”
“We’ll see what happens, I don’t know. I mean, I’ve been saying I don’t wanna fight a day after 35. We’ll see what happens when 35 comes, though. I’m a competitive guy. Maybe I can fill in that competitiveness with competitive esports when it comes to that time. So, we’ll see what happens,” Holloway added.
Whether he will retire or not, his decision will change depending on the outcome of the Arnold Allen fight. Fans will have to wait until Saturday night for the answer.