Former featherweight champion Max Holloway has reflected on his lopsided decision win over top contender Calvin Kattar. ‘Blessed’ put on a striking clinic against Kattar over five rounds in the main event of UFC on ABC 1. In the final round, Holloway began addressing the commentary team and declared himself the best boxer in MMA […]
Former featherweight champion Max Holloway has reflected on his lopsided decision win over top contender Calvin Kattar.
‘Blessed’ put on a striking clinic against Kattar over five rounds in the main event of UFC on ABC 1.
In the final round, Holloway began addressing the commentary team and declared himself the best boxer in MMA while simultaneously dodging Kattar’s punches.
In a recent interview with Ariel Helwani, Holloway reflected on the fight he believes is the best performance of his career.
“No, I think that was my best performance out there,” Holloway said. “We get better every time, right? That’s what we did. And to do it against a guy like Calvin Kattar who many hold him as one of the great boxers, not in our division but all of UFC.”
“To have that performance against him was great. But, like I’ve been telling everybody, it takes two man, It takes two to tango,” Holloway added. “Calvin deserves just as much praise as I do. He was in there taking it, he was in there giving it. Nothing but respect to him. But I really believe that was my best performance for sure… I just felt like I was untouchable in there” (Transcribed by Essentially Sports)
Do you agree with Max Holloway? Did ‘Blessed’ put in a career best performance against Calvin Kattar?
Tyson Chartier, the head coach of Calvin Kattar, has explained why he didn’t stop the fight against Max Holloway. In the main event of UFC Fight Island 7, Holloway and Kattar met in what many thought would be a very even fight. However, the Hawai…
Tyson Chartier, the head coach of Calvin Kattar, has explained why he didn’t stop the fight against Max Holloway. In the main event of UFC Fight Island 7, Holloway and Kattar met in what many thought would be a very even fight. However, the Hawaiian put on a striking clinic and set a new record […]
As we now know, Calvin Kattar did survive his fight against Max Holloway last year, but Dana White wasn’t so sure that would be the case while watching the fight.
One year ago immediately following the Holloway/Kattar fight, UFC President Dana Whit…
As we now know, Calvin Kattar did survive his fight against Max Holloway last year, but Dana White wasn’t so sure that would be the case while watching the fight.
One year ago immediately following the Holloway/Kattar fight, UFC President Dana White said thought the main event between Max Holloway and Calvin Kattar should’ve been stopped after the fourth round.
In a video the UFC uploaded, it showed White freaking out thinking Kattar might die due to all the damage he sustained.
After the fourth round, White spoke to UFC executive Hunter Campbell and said he wanted Kattar to the hospital immediately after the fight.
“He took so much f*cking punishment in this fight, I’m freaking out a little bit, man. I don’t know. I don’t like it. This reminds me of the kind of fight where the fight’s over, and he walks out back and f*cking dies. I think that f*cking Herb Dean should’ve stopped it before the (fifth) round. He was wobbling all over the f*cking place,” White said on the UFC’s Grand Stage video.
“When we had him up against the cage, that’s when he had him,” Campbell said.
“He should have stopped the fight right there,” White said.
Kattar’s Manager Explains Non-Stoppage
Weeks later, Kattar’s manager, Tyson Chartier, offered the following explanation for why the fight was not stopped:
“It definitely did [get close to us stopping it],” Chartier stated to MMAFighting. “I’m sitting in the corner and every time things were getting really bad, Calvin’s back was to us, and we see Max, and we see Herb. There was a couple of times when we were like, ‘F*ck, is he gonna stop it?’ And I was hoping Herb would stop it. And then all of a sudden we saw he wasn’t going to stop it, we were like, ‘Should we throw in the towel?’ And then I’m thinking we’re gonna throw in the towel, and then Calvin would crack him. Then he would get off the fence and start landing shots. Like, damn it!”
“It definitely did [get close to us stopping it],” Chartier stated to MMAFighting. “I’m sitting in the corner and every time things were getting really bad, Calvin’s back was to us, and we see Max, and we see Herb. There was a couple of times when we were like, ‘F*ck, is he gonna stop it?’ And I was hoping Herb would stop it. And then all of a sudden we saw he wasn’t going to stop it, we were like, ‘Should we throw in the towel?’ And then I’m thinking we’re gonna throw in the towel, and then Calvin would crack him. Then he would get off the fence and start landing shots. Like, damn it!”
“There was one point in the fourth round where I looked at Jake [Mainini], the Muay Thai coach, and I was like, ‘Dude, Max is getting tired.’ It was crazy because he was beating us up, but you could see it in his eyes like, ‘Ughh,’ and then he tried to wrestle, tried to take us down, he was getting tired from beating us up and then Calvin landed a good shot again and the round ended.”
The good news was that Calvin Kattar ended up healing up his injuries and there was no significant life-altering damage. However, “The Boston Finisher” did sustain a plethora of injuries.
Tonight will be the first time he competes again since absorbing a record number of strikes from “Blessed.” He will be featured in the UFC Vegas 46 against another top-level striker, Giga Chikadze.
Calvin Kattar has issued a statement following his loss to Max Holloway in the main event of UFC Fight Island 7. Kattar was looking to earn a title shot with a win over Holloway but that did not go as planned. The Hawaiian put on a striking clinic and …
Calvin Kattar has issued a statement following his loss to Max Holloway in the main event of UFC Fight Island 7. Kattar was looking to earn a title shot with a win over Holloway but that did not go as planned. The Hawaiian put on a striking clinic and pieced up Kattar for five rounds. […]
You can add the UFC president to the list of people who would like to see a rematch between Alexander Volkanovski and Max Holloway. Max “Blessed” Holloway was absolutely sensational in his victory over Calvin Kattar at UFC on ABC: Holloway vs. Kattar l…
You can add the UFC president to the list of people who would like to see a rematch between Alexander Volkanovski and Max Holloway. Max “Blessed” Holloway was absolutely sensational in his victory over Calvin Kattar at UFC on ABC: Holloway vs. Kattar last night. The fighters took home Fight of the Night bonuses, and […]
Max Holloway could be preparing to face Alexander Volkanovski a third time in his next fight. Holloway returned to the win column in emphatic fashion after a striking masterclass in his lopsided unanimous decision win over Calvin Kattar in the UFC Fight Island 7 headliner on Saturday night. The manner of the performance led many […]
Max Holloway could be preparing to face Alexander Volkanovski a third time in his next fight.
The manner of the performance led many to call for a trilogy with current featherweight champion Volkanovski. Although Holloway lost both his meetings to the Aussie, there were already calls for him to face him a third time especially as many felt he should have won the rematch.
And with this performance against Kattar, those calls will only continue to increase and as far as UFC president Dana White is concerned, that’s the only fight to make for Holloway.
“I think we have to,” White said at the post-fight press conference of a trilogy. “I think we have to. When you’re the champion, you have the top five guys in the world gunning at you. When you’re the number one contender in the world, you’ve got the top 10 guys in the world. Sometimes, number eight is more dangerous than number three.
“Tonight, he [Holloway] fought a bad dude that a lot of people thought was going to beat him and he went out and treated him like number six. So, he did what he needed to do in spectacular fashion tonight and I think he deserves to fight Volkanovski again.”
/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_image/image/68679516/1296753048.0.jpg)
Max Holloway could be preparing to face Alexander Volkanovski a third time in his next fight. Holloway returned to the win column in emphatic fashion after a striking masterclass in his lopsided unanimous decision win over Calvin Kattar in the UFC Fight Island 7 headliner on Saturday night. The manner of the performance led many […]