Max Holloway and Yair Rodriguez (Credits: UFC Twitter)
Max Holloway and Yair Rodriguez put on one of the greatest featherweight showings of all time
Max Holloway vs Yair Rodriguez at UFC Vegas 42 was an absolute war. In fact, the fight delivered more than what was expected with a plethora of stars believing it to be one of the greatest featherweight fights of all time.
Holloway was coming off a dominant win over Calvin Kattar (in January 2021). Rodriguez, on the other hand, was making his return to the Octagon after 2 years.
The Mexican showed no signs of ring rust as he began the 1st round very strongly. Holloway began picking up the pace as the fight progressed.
There were kicks to the sternum, uppercuts, upkicks, submission attempts, violent takedowns – you name it.
Although, Rodriguez showed grit and heart, Holloway was just too good for him. He ended up winning via. unanimous decision, scoring 49-46, 48-47 and 48-47 on the three judges’ scorecards.
A total of 238 significant strikes were landed by the Hawaiian. Rodriguez landed 199 strikes.
With that win, Holloway asserted his claim as the number one ranked featherweight contender. Time for a trilogy fight against Alexander Volkanovski?
A plethora of MMA stars were in awe of what they witnessed. UFC featherweight champion Alexander Volkanovski was quick to acknowledge the sheer brilliance of both men.
Francis Ngannou, Stephen Thompson and others reacted as well.
Following his win, Holloway called out Conor McGregor for a fight.
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