MMA
What are Holloway's best wins before McGregor test at UFC 329?
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Coming off a stinging defeat, Max Holloway cannot afford to lose to a Conor McGregor who is returning to the Octagon for the first time in just over five years.
McGreror and Holloway will clash in the UFC 329 headliner at T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas on Saturday night. The fight marks a rematch from their August 2013 scrap, which McGregor won by a three-round unanimous decision.
Both men are trying to rebound from a loss as Holloway (27-9) last dropped a unanimous decision to Charles Oliveira this past May, while McGregor suffered a horrific compound fracture of his left leg in a loss to Dustin Poirier in their trilogy fight back in July 2021.
While plenty of eyes will be on ‘The Notorious’ on his highly-anticipated MMA return, ‘Blessed’ would like nothing more than to use the platform for a redefining performance. As the suspense builds to the rematch between these two future lock Hall of Famers, DAZN News looks back to five of Holloway’s best in-Octagon offerings.
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Iconic finish of Justin Gaethje at UFC 300; April 13, 2024
Poster-worthy, indelible and the kind of finish that enhances one’s legend. These are all ways to describe Max Holloway inviting Justin Gaethje to slug it out in the center of the Octagon during the final 10 seconds of their wild UFC 300 matchup. Gaethje, being the warrior he is, happily obliged. The two fighters then engaged in a thunderous fire fight, which only ended when ‘Blessed’ unleashed a hellacious overhand right to leave Gaethje slumped with one tick on the clock. It resides as the sticking highlight of Holloway’s career and one of the greatest buzzer-beaters in combat sports history.
Levels above Calvin Kattar in record-setting performance at UFC Fight Night; January 16, 2021
Holloway was coming off back-to-back points losses to Alexander Volkanovski and desperately needed to avoid the first three-fight skid of his MMA career. Well, he definitely did that and more with a resounding win over a rugged Calvin Kattar in Abu Dhabi. The bout had ‘Blessed’ imposing his will on Kattar with the sweet science, even exclaiming “I’m the best boxer in the UFC” during the fight. At the end of the lopsided unanimous decision, Holloway’s numbers were staggering in the form of 581 total strikes landed including 445 significant strikes landed — both UFC records.
Thoroughly dominating Frankie Edgar in title defense; July 27, 2019
Entering the Octagon for UFC 240 as the defending UFC featherweight world champion, Holloway thoroughly outclassed a gritty Frankie Edgar toward a unanimous decision. Not only did ‘Blessed’ drown Edgar out in total strikes, 131-96, but he stuffed 14 of the Toms River, New Jersey native’s 15 takedown attempts, rendering the warrior futile in the authoritative title defense.
Handing Brian Ortega his first loss; December 8, 2018
Fresh off the exclamation point Holloway tendered in the rematch victory over Jose Aldo, what stood between ‘Blessed’ and his second featherweight title defense was an undefeated Brian Ortega, who entered the Octagon in Toronto riding a six-fight win streak. That said, it became abundantly clear quickly that ‘T-City’ quite never met a striking buzzsaw like Holloway who chewed through the Los Angeles native with a deluge of punches en route to a knockout win. A doctor’s stoppage brought Ortega’s pain to an end after he ate 290 significant strikes — a then-record set by Holloway.
Leaving no doubts in rematch with Jose Aldo; December 2, 2017
After stopping Jose Aldo in the Brazilian’s home of Rio de Janeiro roughly six months prior to win and unify the UFC featherweight world title, Holloway was even more forceful in their rematch. The sequel had ‘Blessed’ applying pressure off the front foot and serving up a buffet of stiff punches, which went unanswered late, toward a dominant third-round TKO. As legendary of a fighter that Aldo is, he couldn’t unlock the code to defeat Holloway and resolve the latter’s hands, falling by the same round and result in each of their fights. Now, we'll see what Holloway could muster in another rematch — against McGregor.
