Fight Study 85 – Hollway vs. Kattar (transcript) (Patreon)

2021 still has the stink of 2020 all over it, but at least MMA is off to a great start. UFC on ABC 1: Holloway vs Kattar was a great way for the sport to get re-introduced on network television. It wasn’t always this entertaining. When the UFC first debuted on the Fox network back in November of 2011, the main event was Cain Velasquez defending his heavyweight title against Junior dos Santos. The fight lasted 1 minute and four seconds. There was a ton of buildup, only for the match itself to last as long as a commercial break. This time around, the UFC didn’t suffer from the same fate. Holloway put on a clinic against Kattar in a five-round classic. 

Despite the fight going the distance, it wasn’t close at all. All judges had Holloway winning every round, where they couldn’t come to a consensus is how badly Kattar got beat. Judges Mike Bell and Ben Cartlidge scored it 50-43, while judge David Lethaby had it 50-42. The last time a scorecard was that one-sided for a five-round fight was when Rich Franklin beat David Loiseau at UFC 58. That’s right, you have to go back to 2006 to find the last time this has happened. It’s crazy to think how much MMA has changed since then, let alone the last couple of years.

Think about the featherweight and lightweight divisions. Both weight classes were stacked with strong wrestlers, and it would’ve been impossible to climb the rankings without running into at least one fighter that has a grappling base. Look at the current top ten at 145 and 155 pounds. Almost every single person on the list is a competent striker that has established themselves as a danger on the feet. Among the featherweights, Holloway and Kattar stand out as fighters that have never had a boring round between them. This fight was historic, not just because it was the first UFC on ABC (let alone the first major MMA card in 2021), but several records were broken. Holloway landed a UFC record 445 significant strikes against Kattar. To give you some context, 445 significant strikes alone set the record for the most COMBINED significant strikes in a UFC fight. Per Marc Raimondi of ESPN, That means Holloway landed more significant strikes today than any two fighters in one fight in UFC history. In round 4, Holloway landed 141 significant strikes, breaking the previous record of 134 significant strikes in a single round. Whose record did he break? His own, from when he fought Brian Ortega. Funny enough, that was also in the fourth round. If that wasn’t enough, Holloway also holds the record for most +100 strikes in back-to-back fights. That’s a lot of numbers, but at least now you have some context as to the level of activity in this match-up.

 If you haven’t watched the fight, pause this episode and find it online. But be careful, because Dana White is on a mission to catch every streamer and put them behind bars because THAT’S the most important issue plaguing the UFC. Trying to give a play by play for this fight is a disservice to Holloway’s striking creativity and Kattar’s resilience, so instead, we’ll recap what was different and what was the same from both fighters.

When the fight started, both Holloway and Kattar came out trying to establish their jabs. As mentioned in the preview, both fighters rely heavily on the jab to probe for information. Holloway throws with volume, drawing out reactions while doubling and tripling up on his attacks while mixing in plenty of hooks, uppercuts, and straights to the body. The more you react to Holloway’s jabs, the easier it becomes for him to read your next move. Kattar’s jabs come at opponents in a quick snapping motion, where he doesn’t give off a lot of tells. Kattar doesn’t always turn his lead shoulder over when he jabs, he doesn’t mind throwing them with the thumb facing up, similar to boxing great Joe Calzaghe. This flicking type of jab is best used to distract you while he sets up his rear hand, which often lands with more power behind it. As the fight unfolded, Holloway was having more success.

Even in the early goings, it was clear that whenever Holloway pushed forward, Kattar would move straight back. When Holloway was the one that retreated or moved laterally, Kattar would allow him to escape with no repercussions. There was no ring cutting from Kattar, and no strike waiting for Holloway if he slipped off to a side or moved straight back like in the Volkanovski fight. In the first round, Kattar was more disciplined about throwing low kicks, but this became less consistent as the fight wore on. It could be that Holloway paused first mid-strike to throw Kattar off rhythm, or that many of the lessons that he learned from the Volkanovski fights were still fresh in his mind. Holloway stuck to his strategy of reacting to leg kicks by either withdrawing the lead leg, kicking right-back, or blitzing in with punches whenever Kattar did throw a kick.  Both Holloway and Kattar had success with calf kicks, but it was Holloway who threw with more volume.

If Holloway’s punching looked familiar, it’s because he used a lot of the same combinations from the Brian Ortega fight. Holloway made sure to sneak in body strikes constantly. Note that I said strikes and not punches because Holloway was consistent about throwing kicks to Kattar’s midsection throughout the entire five rounds. It didn’t matter if he led with straights to the body, landed hooks to the liver mid-combination, or just threw spinning back kicks right to the solar plex. Holloway always managed to hit Kattar to the body while landing punches up top. Kattar was so focused on swinging back with power strikes, but he always seemed like just a split second away from a clean shot. Kattar’s jabs are sharp and come in a straight line, a sign of a good traditional jab. The problem was that they didn’t connect as often as they should. It’s not that he didn’t land anything, it’s just that Holloway took the shots and seemed to shrug them off. His best successes were when he got aggressive and struck first without trying to time Holloway on the counter. His jabs and straights are some of the best in the weight class, but he doesn’t build more attacks from those unless he’s on the counter.

It was clear that Kattar was looking for a way to end the fight with one or two shots while Holloway was content throwing with combinations. Holloway also had a few interesting kicks for Kattar, and even though he didn’t buckle his legs or cause him to slip, the kicks landed with no responses from Kattar. For instance, everyone expects the calf kicks, inside leg kicks, and even front kicks from the rear leg, à la Robert Whittaker. Holloway threw a stomping side kick from his rear leg. If Kattar was trying to come up with a defense for that one on the spot, he wasn’t doing a good job.  As time passed, Holloway’s feints and accuracy made him appear faster than he was. He would fake punches to the body to draw Kattar’s hands low, only to nail him with a lead hook to the head. He would then miss a low kick and immediately transition to a spinning back kick. It might look complicated, but Holloway understands the principle of pull counters extremely well, so he’s able to add more fun stuff on top of that. Simply put, he’ll draw out a reaction from Kattar and counter. If Kattar does land a strike, Holloway responds by attacking him right after. Sometimes Kattar would be expecting a hook to follow, only to get slashed by a lead elbow down the center, like a vintage Jon Jones. A neat trick from Holloway was seeing him parry Kattar’s punches with his rear hand, only to counter with jabs.

Kattar wasn’t without moments of success. When he clinched up, he got Holloway with elbows off the break. His jabs and straights were landing, and he landed uppercuts whenever Holloway charged in recklessly. Unfortunately, Kattar kept getting pushed back to the cage and led around by Holloway. If Kattar wasn’t being pressured, he was simply following Holloway. The more tired Kattar got, the more Holloway could see the punches coming his way. Kattar’s high forearm guard could either protect his head or his body, but it couldn’t do both. Holloway had no problem exploiting this 50/50 problem. There were multiple times that this fight could have been stopped, and frankly, anything after the 3rd round could’ve been a justified stoppage. Some moments seemed like flashes from the Anthony Pettis fight, where Holloway was unloading with hooks to the body, but Kattar was still up, barely held up by the cage. Kattar’s fight camp, New England Cartel, is going to have to answer for all the damage he took, especially when it was clear that there was no real way for Kattar to win.

Then in the 5th round, something magical happened. Amid Kattar landing, Holloway was no longer threatened by his power. Holloway threw right-hand leads and spinning kicks that landed without fail. Then, channeling his inner Larry Bird, Holloway turned to the broadcast team and seemed to be having a one-sided conversation with them as the fight ticked down to its final seconds.

As Sam mentioned on Twitter, Max became Neo tonight.

Motherfuckers act like they forgot about Max. Holloway might have had some hard times, going 1-3 in his past four fights. Please, please don’t forget the level of competition he’s fought at, not to mention his body of work. This is a fighter that’s cleaned out an entire division on his way to winning the title, and he’s always been a showman. It’s amazing to see him shout to the broadcast team in the middle of the fifth round WHILE HE’S DODGING PUNCHES from Kattar, even more so when you consider that he immediately went back and landed more strikes and slipped a few that came his way. Not only did he proclaim to the commentators that he’s the best boxer in the UFC, he told Kattar that, “freshman came to play!” If you aren’t familiar with what he’s referencing, in the build-up to the fight Kattar mentioned that he’s not the rookie, if this was high school, Kattar would be the senior, and Holloway would be the freshman. The entire scene was iconic, but it’s not without precedent.

This is the same Holloway that pointed to the ground in his fight against Ricardo Lamas, daring him to exchange punches in the middle of the octagon. Holloway is also the guy that told Joe Rogan that he’s going to end his fight against Brian Ortega in the fourth round, DURING the fight itself. Same motherfucker, different fight. There’s also the possibility that Holloway put on his defensive showboating to show mercy on Kattar. It’s not out the left field, Holloway specifically pointed out that young up-and-comers need to be smarter about the kind of trauma they put their body through, especially their brain. Holloway said, “You guys only get one brain. Save it. You guys don’t need to do it. You’ve sparred enough, you’ve trained enough. You know how to punch somebody, you know how to slip a punch. Why even take unnecessary damage before the main game? …Please protect your guys’ heads. If I can tell an up-and-comer something, be smart and figure out a way of taking less damage. You want to be in this game for a long time.” This is probably something that Kattar and his team should take into serious consideration moving forward.

Holloway isn’t without results to back up his claims. Leading up to the Volkanovski rematch, Holloway stated that he did his entire training camp over Zoom. It’s unclear if he never had contact with sparring partners, but he took less damage before the fight. For the Kattar match-up, Holloway said that he cut out sparring. With a lifetime of full-contact sparring behind him, he’s now focused on drilling and figuring out a game plan he can stick to. And guess what? He’s not alone. Jaime Varner, Donald Cerrone, Robbie Lawler, and Tony Ferguson have removed sparring from their training at one point or another. Even boxers like Sergio Martinez have removed sparring before fights to extend their careers. This isn’t to say they stopped grappling or drilling with strikes, but why take blows to the head when you’re not getting paid for it? Former two-division champion Daniel Cormier was all for this new Holloway. He screamed during the broadcast for all fighters to stop sparring immediately and that Holloway has proven that there’s something to it. What happens if you keep doing it for too long is a grim story.

Recently, former UFC lightweight Spencer Fisher told MMA-Fighting.com the extent of the damage he’s suffering from after years of taking trauma to his brain. Fisher can’t remember the names of children sometimes, and at one point he got lost driving home. Renato Sobral is unable to walk in a straight line, unable to balance properly. Wanderlei Silva went through a list of CTE symptoms, and he checked off 8 out of 10. The late Jordan Parsons only had a 13-fight career before tragically dying in a hit and run accident, and an autopsy report confirmed that he suffered from chronic traumatic encephalopathy (CTE). There’s no way to determine at what point enough is enough. It ranges from person to person, and even fighters in the same gym can have different lifestyles when they hang up the gloves. What we do know is that the consequences of absorbing too much damage are terrifying. Even if you had millions of dollars in your bank account, could you put a price on remembering your family members’ names? Or being able to walk without losing your balance? How much would someone have to pay you for you to suffer from constant headaches for the rest of your life? Fight fans are stuck in this weird purgatory where they enjoy exciting fights but are worried about the damage that the athletes take. We can crave action but still want the safety of the fighters to be a priority. So if more are taking the stance that they’ll no longer take unnecessary hits while training, we should applaud that stance. If they’re willing to sacrifice their bodies for our entertainment, the least we can do is not tell professionals how to do their jobs.