Max Holloway highlights, compiled by SideBang Enterprises. By the way, you may want to watch this one without volume. You’re welcome in advance.
If you’ve been paying attention, the name Max Holloway should be familiar to you. If you haven’t, put on that dunce cap and write “Holloway is stepping in for an injured Ricardo Lamas to fight Dustin Poirier at UFC on Fox 2” twenty times on the chalk board. That’ll teach you.
While Poirier is a tough draw, especially for a guy making his UFC debut, Holloway is no slouch himself, despite only having four professional fights to his credit. Here’s what you need to know about “the other Lil Evil”, Max Holloway:
-Holloway is a twenty year old Hawaiian prospect who has compiled a 4-0 professional record. Three of his four victories have come via decision, with his sole stoppage being a first round knockout against then 12-17 Bryson Kamaka in 2010.
-Don’t let the lack of stoppages fool you into thinking Holloway is a boring fighter. Known for his unorthodox striking and exceptional conditioning, Lil Evil blitzes opponents early and often. And despite being six feet tall, Max Holloway prefers to stay in the pocket against opponents.
More on Max Holloway, including more fight vids, after the jump
Max Holloway highlights, compiled by SideBang Enterprises. By the way, you may want to watch this one without volume. You’re welcome in advance.
If you’ve been paying attention, the name Max Holloway should be familiar to you. If you haven’t, put on that dunce cap and write “Holloway is stepping in for an injured Ricardo Lamas to fight Dustin Poirier at UFC on Fox 2” twenty times on the chalk board. That’ll teach you.
While Poirier is a tough draw, especially for a guy making his UFC debut, Holloway is no slouch himself, despite only having four professional fights to his credit. Here’s what you need to know about “the other Lil Evil”, Max Holloway:
-Holloway is a twenty year old Hawaiian prospect who has compiled a 4-0 professional record. Three of his four victories have come via decision, with his sole stoppage being a first round knockout against then 12-17 Bryson Kamaka in 2010.
-Don’t let the lack of stoppages fool you into thinking Holloway is a boring fighter. Known for his unorthodox striking and exceptional conditioning, Lil Evil blitzes opponents early and often. And despite being six feet tall, Max Holloway prefers to stay in the pocket against opponents.
-In March 2011, Holloway won the X-1 lightweight championship with a split decision victory over WEC/Strikeforce veteran Harris Sarmiento. It was only his third fight as a professional.
-His most recent fight was a decision victory over then 3-5 Eddie Rincon on July 1, 2011.
“My regular training schedule was interrupted briefly after I broke a bone and had it pinned for faster and stronger healing – but now I am right back at full speed, 100% healthy, working like an animal, loving every minute and can feel that my training performance has clearly reached a new career high for me – I am really pumped and ready to go!!” -Jessica Aguilar, on training PicProps: Tom Hill
When you look into Jessica Aguilar’s training regimen, you know that you’re dealing with a dedicated athlete. Her typical schedule is brutal. Her gym, American Top Team in Coconut Creek, Florida, is home to elite fighters. Her “personal time” — a couple of hours carved out of the afternoon — are usually spent working, to supplement a fighting income that doesn’t always square with having the best equipment, or a registered dietitian on call, or a hyperbaric chamber in your back yard.
Not that you’ll hear her complain. Aguilar gets by the with help of her sponsors, and she’s quick to point it out. But unlike the usual ham-handed attempts by fighters to plug companies that send them checks, Aguilar comes across as genuinely appreciative of the people and companies who have supported her through lean times. Talk to her for five minutes, and you realize that the positivity and tenacity aren’t marketing points, they’re deeply ingrained character traits. That attitude, the relentless optimism, the rugged determination, have served Aguilar well in her six year career.
Join us after the jump for all of CP’s exclusive interview with Jessica.
“My regular training schedule was interrupted briefly after I broke a bone and had it pinned for faster and stronger healing – but now I am right back at full speed, 100% healthy, working like an animal, loving every minute and can feel that my training performance has clearly reached a new career high for me – I am really pumped and ready to go!!” -Jessica Aguilar, on training PicProps: Tom Hill
When you look into Jessica Aguilar’s training regimen, you know that you’re dealing with a dedicated athlete. Her typical schedule is brutal. Her gym, American Top Team in Coconut Creek, Florida, is home to elite fighters. Her “personal time” — a couple of hours carved out of the afternoon — are usually spent working, to supplement a fighting income that doesn’t always square with having the best equipment, or a registered dietitian on call, or a hyperbaric chamber in your back yard.
Not that you’ll hear her complain. Aguilar gets by the with help of her sponsors, and she’s quick to point it out. But unlike the usual ham-handed attempts by fighters to plug companies that send them checks, Aguilar comes across as genuinely appreciative of the people and companies who have supported her through lean times. Talk to her for five minutes, and you realize that the positivity and tenacity aren’t marketing points, they’re deeply ingrained character traits. That attitude, the relentless optimism, the rugged determination, have served Aguilar well in her six year career.
Jessica Aguilar never meant to start a career in MMA. A life-long athlete, a twenty-three year old Aguilar had just moved from Texas to Florida. The story goes that she started training BJJ on a whim after showing up late for her aerobics class one day, and it clicked from day one.
She was a quick study, and her instructors threw her into a NAGA grappling tournament two months after she started rolling. Not long after that, she was approached by a promoter at an amateur competition, asking if she’d take a pro fight. Aguilar, completely ignorant of what she was getting herself into (and expecting to lay down an entrance fee), agreed to take the fight by asking, “Sure, I’ll compete, how much do I pay?”
Aguilar got paid for that first fight she took with almost no training and less experience, and she caught a loss to Lisa Ward. Ward was then, and still is, a top five fighter in the women’s 115 pound division.
Aguilar went on to assemble an 8-3 record before being invited to take part in Bellator’s inaugural women’s tournament. She scored a business-like arm triangle choke on Lynn Alvarez in the first round, moving her ahead in the tournament to fight Zoila Frausto. Frausto won the decision, but this is what the competitors looked like afterwards. Jessica Aguilar, unscratched, smiled and applauded graciously when the decision was announced.
Jag returned quickly to the cage, picking up a submission win over Elsie Henri less than two months after her screw job loss, then a decision win over powerful wrestler Carla Esparza.
A Frausto rematch was planned, then scrapped, when Jag’s recovery from surgery wasn’t proceeding properly. Another opportunity presented itself in the form of another old loss: Lisa Ward. She’s Lisa Ward-Ellis now, but she’s still the same fighter: a top-ranked contender in the weight class with a win over Aguilar back in February 2006. Jag wants to erase that loss, but what she really wants is a shot at the best female fighter in her weight class. Thing is, the current Bellator women’s champ isn’t who she’s talking about: Jag has her sights set on Megumi Fujii.
It’s no Ghengis Con joint, but it’s something. VidProps: ShoSports
Nation, amongst all the large names and ginormous dudes fighting this weekend, you may have overlooked Daniel Cormier. This weekend’s bout with heavyweight submission grappler/anarchist/tattoo enthusiast Jeff Monson will be Cormier’s fifth fight for Strikeforce since his debut in September of 2009 under the Challengers banner. Perhaps it’s no shock that Cormier isn’t a household name, considering the lack of promotion from his, uh, promotion, but he’s nonetheless a dude you should know.
Come on in past the jump and better know Daniel Cormier, so you’ll have something intelligent to say at the bar while his fight is on.
It’s no Ghengis Con joint, but it’s something. VidProps: ShoSports
Nation, amongst all the large names and ginormous dudes fighting this weekend, you may have overlooked Daniel Cormier. This weekend’s bout with heavyweight submission grappler/anarchist/tattoo enthusiast Jeff Monson will be Cormier’s fifth fight for Strikeforce since his debut in September of 2009 under the Challengers banner. Perhaps it’s no shock that Cormier isn’t a household name, considering the lack of promotion from his, uh, promotion, but he’s nonetheless a dude you should know.
Come on in past the jump and better know Daniel Cormier, so you’ll have something intelligent to say at the bar while his fight is on.
He’s got mad wrestling cred.
Who is the best pure wrestler in MMA? Daniel Cormier’s resume is the definition of world class: high school champ and All-American, ju-co champ, Oklahoma State alum, member of the US Olympic wrestling team in 2004 and 2008. (Sadly, Cormier could not compete at the 2008 games.) Perhaps the most interesting wrestling experience is his time in the now-defunct Real Pro Wrestling league, where Cormier was a champion. Amateur wrestling rules were tweaked for the RPW, giving Cormier some experience with hybrid grappling and a bridge to MMA competition.
He’s got a great camp.
Cormier hooked up with the people at AKA in San Jose, where he trains with some of the best wrestlers-turned-fighters on the planet: Cain Velasquez, King Mo, Josh Koscheck, Jon Fitch, Kyle Kingsbury… we could go on, but we think you’ve probably heard of this team. Training with smaller guys has kept Cormier quick and sharp, and he can match power with the big heavyweights as well. The team has shown that they can teach wrestlers how to strike, and Cormier is a quick study.
He’s not a lay and pray kind of guy.
Cormier is deceptively quick for a heavyweight, and he mixes strikes and takedowns extremely well. He has gone to decision just once, in his last fight versus Devin Cole; his six other victories are split evenly between subs and TKO wins. Only one of those sub wins was actually a sub win in the usual sense: Soa Palelei and Jason Riley both tapped to strikes. Cormier’s powerful ground and pound should continue to rack up victories for him.
He’s already gone golden.
Cormier was just 2-0 when Xtreme MMA out of Sydney, Australia offered him a fight for the XMMA heavyweight championship. Cormier claimed the gold with a TKO victory over Lucas Browne in the first round. (He went on to successfully defend that title as well.) King of the Cage offered him a fight with newly crowned champ Tony Johnson Jr last August, and he dominated Johnson for an RNC win in just two and a half minutes. (Full fight can be found here.)
He seems like a good guy.
Cormier comes off as a class act in interviews, whether he’s talking about his own progression as a fighter or the enmity between his bro-dog King Mo and Rampage Jackson. He seems thoughtful and humble, and have a very strong grasp of what he does well, and what he needs to improve upon. It’s this introspection that puts Cormier’s potential so high.
He’s small for a heavyweight…
…but don’t sweat it. Cormier gets dinged for being undersized at 265, at only 5’11″ (74 inch reach), but he’s powerfully built. Against wrestlers, Cormier’s lower center of gravity is actually an advantage. Against submission artists, his short limbs make for difficult taps. Against pure strikers, his ability to change levels quickly and mix up strikes and shoots can keep kickboxers from pulling the trigger on big strikes and combos. Put simply, it’s going to take a complete fighter to hand Cormier his first loss.
Cormier will face a big test this weekend against Monson, and this could be his coming-out party, with a large expected audience for the heavyweight GP. And if the winner of the tournament vacates the title and moves over to the UFC, don’t be surprised if Cormier claims the Strikeforce belt quickly. If, that is, he doesn’t join up with the big show himself. And that’s the word.
