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A rematch that every MMA fan wants goes down this weekend. Max Holloway fights Charles Oliveira. Before they fight I want to answer one question.
Why is Max Holloway so hard to hold down?
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Now let’s get into it.
What's In Today's Letter?
Wrestling gets oversimplified in MMA.
You hear so-and-so is a D1 wrestler. Surely that means they’ll be able to take down their opponents in the cage?
Not necessarily.
Wrestling in freestyle and folkstyle happens much closer than it does in MMA. Competitors fight for specific head and hand positions so they can clear their opponent’s hands and head to get in on their hips. As such, there is a fundamental piece of defense that every wrestler has heard.
Head, hands, hips.
You want to match your opponent’s head height to put a barrier between you and them.
You’re fighting for hand position while using your hands to strip your opponent’s grips from your neck, arms, legs, and hips.
If your opponent bypasses your head and hands you want to throw your hips back and sprawl to avoid them grabbing you to control you.
MMA takedown defense does not play by the same rules.
You can’t just lower your head because you run the risk of being hit more easily.
The hands that would be fighting for grips and ties are punching.
You still sprawl in MMA, but your stance is more upright to move around more nimbly.
MMA defensive wrestling is not head, hands, and hips. It’s more about footwork that facilitates striking, using the cage to stay up right, and hand fighting to get to a better position to strike.
Max Holloway is better at staying upright than most of his contemporaries. The Hawaiian kid who lost his first fight by submission stopped his next opponent’s 17 takedown attempts. He held the opponent after that to 1 of 4 takedowns en route to a second round stoppage.
Holloway enters his next fight with an 83% takedown defense rate.
How did the striking centric teenager turn into such a potent anti wrestler?
MAX HOLLOWAY’S ANTI WRESTLING:
Blessed To Stay On His Feet
Let’s start at the top of the MMA anti wrestling blueprint. Footwork.
Max Holloway has some of the most effective footwork in MMA. He slides around the cage switching stances to tap in quick kicks and punches in from both sides. This makes him notoriously hard to grab.
Holloway is holding the center. Edgar fakes a jab and tries for a knee tap. Holloway is too far back. He easily steps out to land a right hand. He goes back to cutting off Edgar. Then he hops in to land a left hand. Edgar is stuck outside.
Max Holloway - Frankie Edgar
This is the basis of why Holloway is so difficult to drag down. He’s always in motion with his legs far back. He can pop you and move away to safety without you getting a good grip on his legs.
Both men are circling. Holloway holds the center. Holloway is active with his left and lines up Edgar for a hard right uppercut as he dips. Edgar tries to run in for a single leg. Holloway holds his left arm in front of Edgar’s chin for a cross face as he throws his hips back. Then he circles to safety.
Max Holloway - Frankie Edgar
Some men will eat the punch to pick up a single leg. When they do, Holloway gets active to hurt them while they overwork themselves.
Edgar gets a single leg. Holloway pushes on Edgar’s head to kill his momentum. Holloway moves Edgar’s head inside and whizzers. Edgar lets go of the leg. Holloway puts his left down and frames on Edgar’s arm left arm to make room for a hard knee to the body.
Max Holloway - Frankie Edgar
When Holloway starts racking up offense many of his opponents try to rush into takedowns as he extends his striking. Because Holloway is so far away those wrestling exchanges just turn into his counters.
Holloway snaps Fili’s head with a jab. He throws two more punches before a spinning back kick to Fili’s body. Fili bounces off the cage under Holloway’s punch to try a takedown. Holloway digs under hooks and pushes Fili backwards for several knees. Fili hangs on until Holloway shrugs out of the clinch.
Max Holloway - Andre Fili
The key is the work between the traditional takedown defense. Holloway never settles into just wrestling. He’s always looking to punish people.
Holloway flurries on Chope. Chope drops on a single leg out of desperation. Holloway throws Chope off balance with a whizzer. Holloway punches Chope’s head and body as he falls. Chope tries to get up and run into a takedown. Holloway pushes Chope’s head away and goes back to punching on the fence.
Max Holloway - Will Chope
Like all great fighters with great takedown defense Holloway uses the cage to stay upright.
Holloway intercepts Bermudez’s shot with under hooks. Bermudez throws a right elbow and Holloway tries to escape. Holloway sneaks a knee in before putting his right arm in to frame Bermudez’s face away. Holloway shoves Bermudez away to escape to the center of the cage.
Max Holloway - Dennis Bermudez
Holloway usually tries to keep his opponent on a single leg as fights back off of the cage.
Lamas picks up a single leg. Holloway hops back, pushes Lamas’s head inside, and puts his own foot outside. Holloway plants his legs and leans on Lamas to kill his drive. Holloway starts fighting Lamas’s grip. Lamas falls trying to finish the takedown. Holloway pushes Lamas’s head away as he pulls his own leg out.
Max Holloway - Ricardo Lamas
When Holloway does not have a whizzer at his disposal he’ll often reach for a cross grip to hand fight.
Edgar fakes a jab to try a knee tap. He runs Holloway to the fence before trying a double leg. Holloway reaches across his body with his left arm to pull Edgar off of his hips. Holloway starts punching Edgar before digging a right under hook in and framing Edgar’s face to get out. Holloway ends the round by landing a spinning back kick.
Max Holloway - Frankie Edgar
Before we go onto how Max Holloway likes to get up we need to touch on what is sometime seen as a Hail Mary takedown defense. Guillotine chokes.
A WORD ON GUILLOTINES:
They Only Work When You Do
Spoiler - guillotine chokes don’t count as takedown defense.
A good guillotine can dissuade someone from shooting. But if your defenses starts by selling out and hanging onto the head you’ll end up on your back.
Bermudez throws a jab. Holloway fires one back. Bermudez throws another left and shoots under Holloway’s return punch. Holloway gets a weak under hook and reaches over Bermudez’s head for something like a guillotine. As soon as Bermudez changes the angle he’s able to lift and slam Holloway.
Max Holloway - Dennis Bermudez
Now let’s look at when guillotines work. And why.
Lamas shoots from far out. Holloway wraps up his head, throws his hips back, and keep’s Lamas’s head under his hips. Lamas spins underneath Holloway because he can’t build up. Holloway tries a north south choke. Lamas turtles to stand. Holloway stands over him, knees his body, and threatens another front head lock. They separate and Holloway sneaks in a body kick.
Max Holloway - Ricardo Lamas
Okay so what was different between the two sequences?
Because Holloway wrapped up Lamas’s head and kept it underneath him he kept Lamas’s posture broke. That killed Lamas’s ability to drive forward through Holloway and facilitated Holloway’s ability to keep choking. And if you can keep choking, sooner or later someone won’t be slick enough to save themselves.
Holloway elbows Fili in the clinch. Fili runs away. Holloway chases and lands several more punches. Fili has to shoot to stay alive. He grabs Holloway but his hips are too far back. He can’t drive in but Holloway can keep wrenching on the high elbow guillotine. Fili tries to roll to safety but he’s stuck tapping out.
Max Holloway - Andre Fili
Holloway doesn’t have perfect takedown defense. But he is really really hard to hold down.
SOME LESSONS ON HOW TO STAND-UP
How Max Holloway Returns To His Feet
Max Holloway has a strong over hook. On the feet he uses it as a hard whizzer to slow takedowns and stay standing. On the ground he uses it to get back to his feet.
Holloway is holding Garcia’s posture down with a right over hook. Holloway scissors his legs between the two of them to make space. Then he puts his feet under his butt and pops back up onto the cage.
Max Holloway - Leonard Garcia
He’ll also use the over hook to threaten high guard attacks before putting a butterfly hook in to get back up.
Fili runs through a double leg. Holloway hangs onto Fili’s head with his left arm and gets on his right hip. This allows him to throw his left leg higher on Fili’s back for higher guard attacks. Fili hits Max with his left. Max grabs Fili’s wrist to start pushing and pulling on him. He gets space to put his left butterfly hook in, elevate Fili, and get back to his feet.
Max Holloway - Andre Fili
When Holloway doesn’t get the over hook he just pushes his opponent’s head away so he can get his feet under him and stand.
Holloway punches Ortega onto the fence. Ortega springs back under Holloway’s punches for a double leg. Holloway pushes Ortega’s head down his legs and starts moving his hips away. Ortega tries to hold onto a single leg. Holloway pushes his head away and kicks his leg free.
Max Holloway - Brian Ortega
In Holloway’s last loss to the powerful Ilia Topuria, he completely defused whatever offense Topuria was trying to get going on the floor.
Topuria shoots a locked double leg on the cage and slams Holloway. Holloway immediately scoots his hips away and reaches his right arm to Topuria’s far arm put to disrupt his grip. Holloway stands. Topuria trips him back down. Holloway stands again and pushes Topuria’s hands away to escape.
Max Holloway - Ilia Topuria
Holloway is not the best wrestler in the sport. He doesn’t even try to be. But that hasn’t prevented his success.
His stance and striking make it hard for anyone to get in on his hips cleanly. If they do, he immediately works to turn the shot into a single leg so he can fight their hands and extract his leg. He can do this in the center of the cage or on the fence, and no matter where he does defend takedowns he manages to find space to strike the whole time.
This has given Holloway the 7th best takedown defense rating in Featherweight history. He also has the Featherweight records for wins, finishes, TKO wins, win streak, total fight time, significant strikes landed, and total strikes landed. He’s simply one of the most enjoyable fighters to watch in the entire sport.
You could say the same about his next opponent, Charles Oliveira.
If you include Oliveira’s Lightweight and Featherweight runs, he has the UFC records for submissions, finishes, and performance bonuses. How could these two men make anything other than an instant classic?
This contest is something of an elite bullfight. Max will play the matador with Charles charging at him looking for a finish.
Charles has added significant striking power since their first meeting. Holloway had his first career TKO roughly a year and a half ago. Still, I can’t see Oliveira finding Holloway’s chin for a finish here. It’s hard for me to see anything other than Holloway out landing Oliveira and cruising closer to another title fight.
HELP DESK UPDATES:
Learn More About Charles Oliveira.
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LINKS, INSTRUCTIONALS, AND MORE MATCHES TO STUDY:
What Are We Talking About Today?
If you want to learn more wrestling fundamentals from one of the best American wrestlers ever watch this video on how to build defense inherent to your stance.
Here is Charles Oliveira’s last fight.
THE MOST IMPORTANT NEWS (you might have missed)
After this year, UFC BJJ will prevent their athletes from doing ADCC. They also took the week to announce that they signed Nicky Rod to a match. This is a huge deal. I don’t know the exact figure but I know he asked for a lot. Like too money to feel comfortable telling people outside of your family. This is the first step in the UFC monopolizing elite grappling talent. It’s really just a matter of how long they want to let other organizations exist.
UFC 327 will be headlined by Jiri Prochazka fighting Carlos Ulberg for the light heavyweight championship. That means that Alex Pereira has vacated the title. Many are speculating that that means he will fight at the UFC White House card.
Merab Dvalishvili will rematch Henry Cejudo. …in Real American Freestlye. I’m interested to see how Merab’s wrestling translates outside of the cage.
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