Max Holloway knows exactly what it takes to be a champion in the UFC’s featherweight division. Ahead of his UFC on ABC 1 fight with Calvin Kattar, he says that he saw those attributes in Brian Ortega.
Currently, Holloway is riding a two-fight losing streak, which is not something he is used to. This is right after him coming off of a 13-fight winning streak at 145lb, including three defenses of the featherweight title.
One of those title defenses was one of the best performance of Max’s career, when he took on Brian Ortega. It was a masterclass in striking, with Max even giving Brian pointers during the fight.
Who remembers when Max Holloway decided to help out and share his knowledge with Brian Ortega. pic.twitter.com/lrydNOT3I6
— Dovy🔌 (@DovySimuMMA) November 18, 2019
Max Holloway Praising Brian Ortega
Ortega fought for the first time since facing Max Holloway, against the Korean Zombie last October. This fight saw T-City make enormous improvements, dominating TKZ, and setting hm up a shot against new champ Alexander Volkanovski.
While Max does not watch a lot of fights, he did catch Ortega’s performance last fall. Speaking in a recent interview, “Blessed” expressed how impressed he was with Brian’s performance, and says that he has the skills to win the title.
“Ortega did his thing, shout out to him. At the end of the day, he proved he is champion caliber,” Holloway said.
“He out there, he got to me, we fought. Things happened. He took care of some injuries, he took care of some personal stuff, went out there and did the damn thing.”
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Ready To Test Calvin Kattar’s Boxing
Now Max Holloway is looking to get back to his winning ways against Calvin Kattar, in the main event of the UFC’s first card on ABC. This is a fight that is intriguing to fans, as Calvin is being touted as one of the best prospects in the division right now.
One of the main talking points is how good Kattar’s boxing is, something that Max has been complimented on in the past. The former champ shut down the idea that people are looking past his boxing, but is excited to see how it stacks up against Calvin’s.
“Kattar’s standing across me come Saturday night, and he deserves it I believe. If not, he would not be in front of me,” Holloway said.
“I think (his striking) is good. I think Kattar’s super good. If he wasn’t, he wouldn’t be here.
“Everybody keeps talking about his boxing, but there was once a point where everybody talked about my boxing, so I can’t wait to go out there and see how good it is.”
“I’m excited,” Holloway added. “You know me, I like to strive as being one of the UFC’s strikers. So I can’t wait to go out there and strike with another striker. It’s going to be fun.”
This weekend’s fight between Max Holloway and Calvin Kattar promises to be an exciting, stand-up affair. It will be interesting to see how it unfolds inside the Octagon.
