The 2010s, arguably the most important decade in the history of mixed martial arts, is coming to a close. One reason why the past 10 years have been so pivotal to the sport is the sheer talent that exists across all divisions – men and women, from flyweight (which didn’t even exist until February 2012) to heavyweight. Simply put, the number of great fighters to grace cages and rings across the world never has been higher.
Here at MMA Junkie, we’ve put together a staff-wide, composite ranking of the top 10 fighters of the past decade, which we’ll reveal Monday-Friday until Dec. 27. Today, we reflect on No. 10: Max Holloway.
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The decade ended on a low note for [autotag]Max Holloway[/autotag], but losing his featherweight title at UFC 245 doesn’t take away from his status as one of the greats of the past 10 years.
Holloway’s MMA career to this point has played out since his professional debut in September 2010. En route to becoming one of the most beloved fighters in the sport, Holloway did not take a single shortcut.
Holloway’s most memorable moments, of course, came when he was UFC champion. The work he put in to get to that point, though, is what reveals so much about why he belongs here.
The Hawaiian was not a fighter who caught on right away. In fact, he’s the only fighter who will be featured on this list who (spoiler!) lost his UFC debut. That came in a short-notice bout with Dustin Poirier in February 2012 at UFC 143, when he was just 19 and had a mere four fights to his name. There were ups and downs in the early years, with Holloway going just 3-3 in his first six octagon appearances.
It was the final loss in that early stretch that will be immortalized as Holloway’s turning point. He fought Conor McGregor on short notice at UFC Fight Night 26 in August 2013, dropping a unanimous decision in a contest in which he suffered an achilles injury early only whilst McGregor blew out his knee.
Something changed with Holloway after that result: He didn’t see defeat again in the featherweight division until losing to Alexander Volkanovski at UFC 245 on Dec. 14.
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Climbing the ranks to get the belt was no easy task for Holloway, and he did it the old fashioned way. It took nine consecutive wins just for him to sniff a fight for the interim featherweight title, but never once did he complain. He just remained humble and accepted the next fight.
Holloway had to get past the likes of Cub Swanson, Charles Oliveira, Jeremy Stephens and Ricardo Lamas on his way up. Then when he finally did get that interim title fight at UFC 206 in December 2016, opponent Anthony Pettis badly missed weight. Holloway took the fight without hesitation, though, and went on to become the first to stop “Showtime.”
Firsts would become a common theme in Holloway’s career. In his undisputed championship crowning moment at UFC 212 in June 2017, Holloway ventured into enemy territory and became the first in the UFC to defeat the legendary Jose Aldo on Brazilian soil.
He would then become the first to beat Aldo twice, stopping the division’s most prestigious champion by TKO for a second straight time in his first title defense at UFC 218 in December 2017. Those back-to-back performances earned him “Fighter of the Year” honors from most, including here at MMA Junkie.
Holloway would have a year of his career taken away after that, though, as 2018 was not kind to him. It’s hard not to wonder where his legacy would stand if injury didn’t take him out of a UFC 222 matchup with Frankie Edgar, or if the New York commission didn’t pull him from a scheduled lightweight title bout with Khabib Nurmagomedov at UFC 223, or if a still mysterious illness didn’t take him out of a title defense against Brian Ortega at UFC 226.
When he did return, though, it was with force. In his second title defense against then-undefeated Ortega at UFC 231 in December 2018, Holloway set a new mark for most significant strikes landed in a single UFC bout at 290.
That’s just one of many records Holloway holds to his name. He also owns the all-time marks for most significant strikes landed in UFC history (2,071), is tied for the most third-round finishes in UFC history (six), and, among other things, is the featherweight record holder for wins (16), stoppages (10) and knockouts (eight).
Holloway also put together one of the great winning streaks of his era. His run of consecutive victories sat at 13 after Ortega, but it came to a halt at UFC 236 in April 2019 when Holloway moved up to the lightweight division and lost an interim title bout against Poirier, who put a second win over Holloway on his resume.
Aside from the title loss, Holloway’s defeat to Poirier is the most meaningful since he became the fighter the world knows him as today. Those results seem to have taken away little from him, though. Holloway’s humility when things don’t go his way is what makes him so revered. He is as genuine and down to earth as it gets, and that attitude has contributed to his many successes.
At the start of the decade, Holloway merely was a scrawny teenage kickboxer looking to find his way. Since then, he’s morphed into a pound-for-pound great who mastered a style of breaking opponents with volume, pressure and a fight IQ.
The recency of the loss to Volkanovski will take away some of the luster of Holloway’s run this decade. But as he said post-fight, he just turned 28. There’s still a long road in the fight game ahead. And of the potential members of this list still to be revealed, it’s entirely possible Holloway lands on this list again at the end of 2029.
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