Let’s face it, Jose Aldo will never be confused for a world-class wrestler, as the current Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) Featherweight champion built his reputation on knocking heads with his sharp striking and infamous kicks.
But come June 3, 2017, we may see a different version of Aldo in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, as Max Holloway declared during a recent interview on The MMA Hour that he won’t be surprised to see Jose turn into a wrestler once he realizes his standup game will be pretty much null and void against him at UFC 212.
Just like every other so-called “better” striker has done in the past against him.
“There’s no surprise what Max wants to do, what I want to do. I go in there I strike, I striker and I strike some more. Every time I fight a striker, everyone always says Max’s striking is not as good as this guy’s striking. When I fought Anthony Pettis, the same thing with Cub, and whatever. I tell you guys now, I’ve been making these strikers turn into wrestlers for a while now, and I wouldn’t be surprised if Jose tries to do this against me come June 3rd. I’m going to go in there and do what we do best. I got some of the best coaches in the world, some of the best gameplans. Every single damn fight, you see me raise the level, and that’s what I am going to do, raise the bar against Jose and you guys will find out. It’s going to be fun, I got some secrets up our sleeve I cant tell, but tune in to the pay-per-view (PPV) June 3rd, you guys are going to watch something amazing.”
Indeed, Holloway has improved in his standup skills, taking out Anthony Pettis — one of the most exciting strikers in the history of mixed martial arts (MMA) — at UFC 206 last December via technical knockout (TKO) last December to capture the interim 145-pound title (video replay here).
Owner of a 10-fight win streak, Max hasn’t tasted defeat since losing to Conor McGregor back in 2013. Speaking of Conor, he’s the only man to have yet get the better of Aldo on the feet, knocking him out in 13 seconds at UFC 194.
Other than that, Aldo has never been knocked out in an MMA fight and has usually gotten the better of his foes while standing. A confident Holloway, though, plans to change all of that come fight night.
Fore more on the upcoming UFC 212 pay-per-view (PPV) event click here.