The Former Lightweight King Fights a Blessing in Las Vegas
Max Holloway comes back to give the beatdown witnessed in 2015. The beatdown given by ‘Blessed’ was one that ‘Do Bronxs’, otherwise known as Charles Oliveira, hasn’t forgotten. This is because Charles received a KO/TKO from Max within the first round in just one minute and thirty seconds. In such a moment, with his body reeling and trying to be aware of the next punch, Charles would remember that moment, which he claimed occurred from an undocumented pre-fight injury. Regardless, Max has a record of 27-8-0 versus Charles’ record of 36-11-0, marking an almost even matchup of experience. ‘Blessed’ even is gaining more momentum to seize the number one ranking of the men’s Lightweight Division among such competitors as Paddy Pimblett. However, the fighter who gains the most momentum from this matchup will rise further to the top.
Max will be deadly from the beginning of this fight because of the average number of strikes he lands per minute. It is almost double that of Charles, and with it is carried the strength of the past. However, he does tend to absorb more blows because when strikes are attempted, a fighter is more open to receiving strikes. Surprisingly, he does have a better defense than ‘Do Bronxs’ while standing, which will keep Charles at bay. Combine that trait with his ability to be defensive on the ground, and it’s expected that ‘Blessed’ will see most submission attempts made by Charles. Max Holloway is an all-around fighter for this fight, but he is not protected from everything a fight has to offer.
Specifically, Charles could capitalize on his strength of an increased chance to take down Max. Furthermore, he has had more successful takedowns in his career than ‘Blessed’, calling into question Holloway's defense. If they are, the least Charles can do is get close enough to upset the rhythm that Max will undoubtedly establish during the course of the fight. It is likely Charles will avoid most strikes thrown by his opponent, but if even one accurately lands, that could be his downfall. He does have increased reach over Max and could use this to maintain distance during stages of the fight where ‘Blessed’ comes closer to him.
This distance was where Max seized his last victory over Charles, and because of his strengths, he is favored by crowd statistics to win this fight by KO/TKO again. He counters most of the tools that Charles has built up over time, too. Even if a takedown is attempted by Charles, Max will either take some and get inside of Charles’ space, or he will counter the first few moves to execute the same KO/TKO he gave in 2015. Overall, it will be difficult for Charles to go past round two. If he does, then he could manipulate Max’s expended energy to land more strikes for a possible break into a submission after a successful takedown.
The winner of the fight, without looking at crowd statistics, must be Max Holloway. The ultimate reason is because of the veracity with which Max fights, alongside the desire to usurp the current number one-ranked fighter for the men’s Lightweight Division. He simply throws more blows to make any given by Charles a soft breeze, drowned out by a powerful hurricane. The result of which will be a knockout by at least round two. The fight could make it to round three, and to see if it does, be sure to switch your streaming membership to ESPN because at 9:00 p.m. EST in Las Vegas, the result will be witnessed!
