MORNING KOMBAT WITH LUKE THOMAS AND BRIAN CAMPBELL - Max Holloway or Alexander Volkanovski: Who Really Won? | Morning Kombat Watch-a-long

Episode Date: June 23, 2022

Luke Thomas and Brian Campbell rewatch Max Holloway vs. Alexander Volkanovski 1 & 2, the guys rescore and debate who won which round. You won't want to miss this deep dive on Alexander Volkanovski vs. Max Holloway. (5:40) - Max vs. Alex Round 1 (11:55) - Max vs. Alex Round 2 (18:20) - Max vs. Alex Round 3 (24:30) - Max vs. Alex Round 4 (30:45) - Max vs. Alex Round 5 (35:50) - Max Holloway vs. Alexander Volkanovski Results (40:15) - Alex vs. Max 2 Round 1 (46:20) - Alex vs. Max 2 Round 2 (52:30) - Alex vs. Max 2 Round 3 (58:40) - Alex vs. Max 2 Round 4 (64:50) - Alex vs. Max 2 Round 5 (70:00) - Alexander Volkanovski 2 Results Morning Kombat’ is available on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Stitcher, Castbox, Google Podcasts, Bullhorn and wherever else you listen to podcasts.    For more Combat Sports coverage subscribe here: youtube.com/MorningKombat   Follow our hosts on Twitter: @BCampbellCBS, @lthomasnews, @MorningKombat    For Morning Kombat gear visit:morning kombat.store   Follow our hosts on Instagram: @BrianCampbell, @lukethomasnews, @MorningKombat Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Introducing the new McSpicy from McDonald's. It looks like a regular chicken sandwich, but it's actually a spicy chicken sandwich. McSpicy. Consider yourself warned. Limited time only at participating McDonald's in Canada. Well, we did a Max Holloway resume review, which you haven't seen. We'll put a link for it in the description box. Which may or may not have cursed him. More to come on that.

Possibly, possibly. Luke Thomas, Brian Campbell, host of Morning Combat here. We promised during that Max Holloway resume review that we were going to do a special video on the Volkanovski fights. In part, because the other video was very long. But as we all know, Max Holloway, Alexander Volkanovsky III, coming up as the co-main event at UFC 276. So what we wanted to do was we had done the whole career of Max, made a brief mention of Volkanovsky, but it's fair to say, BC, these are some of the most important fights,

maybe the two most important fights of Max's career, and they deserve special attention. Absolutely, including the disputed nature of the second fight, although the first fight was also very close, and we learned a lot. I love this series because of, I mean, these are two legends. Let's be honest. These are two legends, but they also adapt to each other so well and make adjustments. And, you know, the comeback of Alexander Volkanovsky in fight two, it was beautiful to see in that regard, even though I didn't think he got all the way. But our cameraman, Jake von Amsterdam, did have one question for you beforehand.

Yes. Get it out of the way. Get it out of your system. I'm not a mathematician here, but will this be the 50th time you're watching? I actually don't think it would be. I'm trying to think, like, how many times did I watch it since then? Maybe one or two more, something like that. Oh, wow. Can you lie?

And, like, we'll just be like, yeah. You see, I mean, I'm going to say it one more time. You don't have to impugn my character to make fun of me. This is not a shot at your character. It's more of your quirkiness. You know what I mean? Quirkiness is very fair. Do you remember very quickly, do you remember how you scored the first fight? Three rounds to two in favor of Alexander Volkanovsky and I scored at cage side. UFC 245 in Las Vegas. And I think the second one was UFC 251. So here's how this is going to go. It's going to be kind of like a

fight companion. We're going to start here in just a minute. There's going to be a little clock right here, I think, below on the screen or something right around here. So you can actually watch along with us if you like. I don't know if we're going to be able to hear the commentary or not. It doesn't really matter. We're going to watch it, score it, and argue about it. First fight, right into the second fight. And I'm interested to see how our scores have changed.

How did you score the first one? I think I had, I don't remember anymore, actually. I do remember you scored the second one for Max on first watch, but upon, I believe by the time you got here, by the time you got to watch number 37, it had swung over to, it might've been 38. Yeah. But yes, I think I scored the first one for Volkanovski in real time, second one for Max in real time, but then kind of switched to Volkanovski upon rewatch. But of course, the judges don't get that luxury. They have to score everything right when it happens.

And again, this is not a proper scoring exercise because we have seen this before, but it's worth going through for those aforementioned purposes. All right, are you ready? For that reason, I'm out. No, let's do it. All right, so let's hit it off here. And again, don't worry, this is tail of the tape going on

in front of us. 245, so this was the first, what, Kamaru Colby? Is that right? I believe so. December of 2019, the Max is the champion at age 28, has a 5-inch reach advantage over the 2-inch height advantage. I'm sorry, 5-inch height advantage and a

2.5-inch reach advantage over the 31-year-old Volkanovski. Buffer looks like a party favorite. You know what his jacket looks like? It looks like one of the pieces of art that those AI engines make. It's like tell the artificial intelligence thing to make like a fucking wallpaper. Are you big on like the robot bartender on cruise ships? I've never been on a cruise ship because I'm not Dub T.

Oh, cruise ships have changed. You're going to step foot on a Super 1? You mean COVID trips? One of these days. Well, you can't. All right, your referee is Jason Herzog, who let's not forget, once broke Arash Markazi's rib during a referee seminar. Did he really?

When they were rolling together, yes. Now, is that a true thing, or did he borrow that story from somebody else? Oh, dear. You. I won't stand for that. Max Holloway warming up. Luke, do you like the full evolution of his chest tat? I like it okay.

Interestingly, I like Volkanovski's secondary tat on his right arm because you can see he had the tribal one first and then tattooed some black and gray work over it. And the tattooed black and gray over it is much better. Would you be surprised if underneath the tribal one there's barbed wire tattoo? If he got this around 97, Pam Anderson, Tom Gugliotta. I mean, it's like a tramp stamp, right? It was quite popular back when we were in high school.

Speaking of WT, here we go. Yeah, that's right. I one time was at UVA visiting my brother, and I saw two guys walk into the UVA gym. Both of them had barbed wire tattoos. They were probably fucking or who knows. Okay, wow. Luke, can you remind me who you thought was going to win entering the first fight? So I made a video about it.

You can actually check on my personal YouTube channel. And I had said, the video was titled was Volkanovski is a threat. Yes. Now, I did think Max was going to win, but I knew, and you can double check. I knew that. Here's why. Because Volkanovski was coming into this fight off of the Aldo fight. Yes. And he looked of the Aldo fight.

And he looked awesome against Aldo. He looked so good. It wasn't like a simulating knockout or anything, but he was just controlling. He looked so good. I personally believe he made Aldo stop trying. Aldo was just so kind of confused. He was just like, this is the last fight of my deal, because it was at that point. So he was just like, F it, we'll go to the cards. But minus 200 was the final odds betting favorite, Max Holloway.

They just showed on the screen there on UFC Fight Pass. I don't know why I'm getting the solo treatment here, but I'll deal with it. What was this again? Was this in New York City? T-Mobile Arena, Las Vegas. They touch gloves in the center. By the way, Alex still has hair here. Yes.

Now he doesn't look like the pirate he looks like now. I don't think he looks like a pirate. He's just bald. If he had the single earring. Kevin Aioli in the crowd. Wow, all the luminaries is with the white Apple watch. He's a big Apple fan. And there's Max. All right. They're going to get the clock going when the fight starts. So you'll be able to see it on screen. You can go with us. We're going to start it. Just seconds. Here we go. And we're off. They touch gloves. All right.

Volkanovski commands the center, but it's kind of circling. You got the pawing. We knew this is how it would go for a while, Luke. Reaching is the way he does it. Just sort of setting up, feeling out, gauging reactions, switching angles. See how he does that sort of dip and angle change? Look how uniform those Reebok kits look, Luke. It just looks professional.

They look so fucking terrible. Although I think this is my least favorite of the varieties you can choose. This is like the underwear. This is the late stage Venom, right? Here's Max trying to double his way into a jab. This is Reebok, dude. I'm saying this is the tail end. Leg kick from Volkanovski is the very first one at about the 420 mark.

Another one inside and outside. He does that a lot, by the way, varying inside and outside. Max having a problem establishing that jab, but he's also kind of careful here. He's really trying to read Volkanovski's awkward movements, Luke. Right, but leg kick there from Max. By the way, pay attention, though. Oh, Volk telling him, tell him, come on. Right, but pay attention. Max, one of the big sort of changes from the first fight to the second fight, nice jab there from Max to the body, is he was trying to walk Volkanovski

down. Now, see how Volkanovski intercepted with the leg kick there? That's a very famous special of his. And what he'll often do is attack, back up, wait for the counterattack, and then slam it home. Like that. Just like that. You see that? First good, clean counterstrikes from Volkanovski.

Landed on the right hand for the first time. But he used the leg kick to set it up. That was very well done. His footwork patterns are not quite Dom Cruz in terms of ballroom dancing. But they, at this point especially, were hard to narrate. I'd argue his are better. Oh, wow. Dominic Cruise has his own style of footwork.

It's highly unique. I would say that Max has a little bit more, ooh, nice left hook over the top. From Volkanovski. So Max, outside of these body shots, really isn't landing much this first round. He's kind of having trouble figuring out the distance. Now, in fairness, Max, I wouldn't call him a slow starter, but he definitely gets hotter as the fight warms up. But is it slow starter or is it he's reading?

Both. He's computing. Both. Another good right hand for Volkanovski. So he's gaining the respect here. Max is giving him the respect on the right hand. And you can see Max not quite pressuring him as hard now. Let's see how heavy Max is leaning on that front leg.

See how he's leaning forward a little bit? Yeah, you can already see it's getting red. Volk has been kind of chopping away at that. There it is. See how he pressures him? He's so good, Volkanovsky, at intercepting pressure. Would you say this was the first marquee fight where someone can use that calf strike? Like, once it became a major trend trend this was like the full bloom of it. Like he won with the calf strike. I don't agree. Okay. We'll find out Luke. Another calf strike.

Inside leg kick. Nicely done. So now who's pressuring? Oh it's Volk coming forward. Yeah. Max looks I'm not going to say frustrated but he's

He's making reads. It's not easy. It's not easy right now. Good defense from Volk on that right hand Yeah, you see how heavy on that front leg max's bowing his posture leaning over like that Yeah, you know he I think he did do so that he was the bigger striker And he wouldn't want to act like the bigger man kind of it's what he does to a lot of guys This is his sort of standard method. I mean it's way to Aldo for example

Well, that's why I love the rematch, where Max had to be different. Right. Show his greatness. How many times did you watch the rematch, fuckface? I don't need to disclose any of that. It's all private, all right? Tom Cruise doesn't need to know if I watch tape. Is that proprietary information?

Yep. Well, excuse me. Oof. He got check hooked there from Max. Oh, Max doing a little woo! I love when Max smiles in the cage, you know? Max got him with a nice check hook coming in. Nice leg there from Max. Oh, Max doing a little whoo. I love when Max smiles in the cage, you know? Max got him with a nice check hook coming in. Nice leg kick from Max.

This would be, I believe, the 10th island for Max? This city of Las Vegas? 9th island. Okay. Volkanovski not doing as much stance switching just yet. You're going to see some of that. I'll tell you what. Volk is sharp early.

I mean, the accuracy is there. He's planting nice seeds. Finally. And he had just tried that combo several times and it just now worked. You're going to see some of that. I'll tell you what, Volk is sharp early. I mean, the accuracy's there. He's planting nice seeds. Finally. And he had just tried that combo several times, and it just now worked. I like that right hand on the move. Max sidesteps, and Volk kind of timed a looping one right on him. Oof.

Damn, Volkanovsky's sharp here. Yeah, he's so good. He's so good at baiting responses and then having a response. Is that a shoe? Is that a single? So here's the funny little thing about this note. If you go back and you watch the Volkanovski versus Aldo fight, in the last minute of either all three rounds or at least the last two,

he would just pressure Aldo against the fence and hold him there because he had already won the first four minutes, and he would just kind of control him there to kind of clean the clock out. And when I asked him about it, he was like, yeah. Remember he told me I was playing an actor with all that movement. It was so foreign to him at the time. So he, I think he just wanted to be like, okay, I've done enough. Let me kind of just kill the clock. And he tried that a little bit with Max, but Max's ability to get off the fence is very good. Dude, Max had a lot of trouble this round. It wasn't that he got hit a ton, but he had out thaw a few times and it was clear. And there's another one. And here's

another part too. It's not like he's getting like, you're right, he's not getting his jaw jacked so much, but what Volkanovsky's doing is attacking the foundations of what builds the rest of his game. Leg kicks, taking away the jab, creating movement, angles, that kind of a thing. Here, intercepting him in the middle, he's strong as shit. Alright,

first round's over. Score it. 10-9, Alexander Volkanovsky. Agreed. 10-9, Alex. Boom. Hard leg kick. Adjusting his base. You know, I'll tell you what. I don't remember the last time I've rewatched this first fight here.

Maybe actually ahead of their second one probably did, but I don't exactly know what's coming next, so I'm excited here. Yeah, I haven't seen this one in a while actually either. There's Max Holloway's corner, and you have Ivan Flores giving him instructions there. People don't know Ivan Flores. He is so smart. He is such a good coach. I have enormous respect for him. And then you can see on the right, it's Brad Riddell talking to Alex, and then Joe Perez, I think is his name? Yes, yes. Talking to him as well. They are, I mean,

that's a pretty great corner to have Don House Work in the the swelling on max there where we go one we go all very respected boxing training You get that joke at all what where we go when we go all know Don house Yeah, he was the one who had that's a QAnon phrase and he had the QAnon like where we go when we go Yeah, I was like yeah, I mean he's got normal people in it. I don't be really searched QAnon humor really You know, I'm in dad jokes. It's not humor. That's the real thing that those crazies believe.

But okay. I didn't think this was going to be about politics. It's not. Can I make a fucking joke? All right, here we go. Round two. Bang. We're off.

All right, let's see. Let's see what the adjustments Max make because it was a little eye-opening. I mean, he was getting hit with those right hands. Again, not a whole lot of stance switching just yet from Alex, but you know what he does? You look at how often he reaches out and paws, and he uses it for feints or distance establishment or potentially his hand traps or parries. He does a lot with that lead or the right-hand lead coming out like that. And Alex always seems to be exiting each navigation with at least a calf kick,

an inside leg kick, and then getting out of trouble. And I like the little play they add there. You know, Alex gets into the body. He's living it up. He's smiling. You know, what's interesting about Alex is when he scores, he never gets greedy. Right? He never lands and then stays there and then tries to, like, oh, I've landed a big one.

Let me just follow up right here. He scores. Sometimes he throws a combo, but then he usually just exits. He never positionally gives away what he's trying to do. Dude, if they could have let Anthony Smith referee this fight instead of Herzog, that would be your three favorite MMA people in the cage. It literally might. It literally might.

Dude, but, I mean, you know, we're talking about these two guys represent the great parts of modern MMA in not all its forms, but certainly in the striking department, I would say. Good. Nice right hand. Hard inside kick from Alex. So, Luke, Max's jab in the first round pretty much went away after the first minute because of why?

Because of the footwork capabilities of Okonofsky? Angle change there. Intercepting, pressure, lead hand control like that. I think it was the threat of that right hand. And you see, by the way, he does it, he'll back someone up, pause a second, and then throw the leg kick, so the timing is different, and then the location is great, too, and he never kind of gives it away. Like, this is the thing about Alex,

we're like, oh, he's not a knockout artist, but it's like, dude, the amount of offense he's able to just steal out of every moment, like that, it's just constant. Well, I think he may be becoming one, and I don't mean by one punch. I mean he had to wear Korean Zombie down. But I think he showed a spirit in the zombie fight that if he can be in fights moving forward

where things have gone his way, he's built a lead, I think he's going to be going for it a lot more. In a precise way, but he's going to be trying to prove, Luke, like Usman, that he rounded that shit out. Now here's the interesting part about this fight. Now you see Alex at higher volume. I don't have the numbers in front of me, but you see him having higher volume. He's getting a little bit more comfortable, but constantly pawing with either the lead left or the lead right.

That right hand that Volkanovski missed, Luke, that wasn't a field the distance. That was a home run shot he went for. Really the first one so far. The other ones can be little short laser beams, but that one he definitely. Have you noticed how he doesn't just put punches and kicks together, but sometimes he'll go heavy punches and then out of nowhere the kick comes or he'll throw heavy kicks then out of nowhere the punch comes like there's a variation not just in the timing and the location but

the systematizing of it it never feels like one is clearly building off the other they're just all he's able to just pull them when he needs them in a very sort of distinct way yeah there is some stance switching the max southpaw, then he goes back to orthodox. Then they're both switching to cause movement. Yeah, they're cinematizing the synthesizing and the systematizing. The exit's that way. I mean, look, what, you know. Max is having a hard time landing clean.

So this round, you know, with under two minutes to go, not really looking much different than the first one. No. In a lot of ways. I mean, with the exception, I guess Volkanovski hasn't been as accurate this time around. That's a nice punch from Max where he intercepts it a little bit. Max southpaw now. Yep, trying some of the same tricks. See how he's pawing, which is common when you have opposite stance.

Gets a little bit there with the body shot, a little bit there with the sidekick. That's a nice shot. Even Volkanovsky acknowledged. From Max from the southpaw position. Oh, again, dude. The one-two. That's an unorthodox one-two. That was almost a sidearm.

Right straight, left over the top. Sidearm left hand. He caught Volk flush. Lead right hand getting in for Alex. Yeah, but he knows how he switched stances on the way in. Yeah, but it's starting to heat up. We're starting to actually trade a little bit here. This is good.

Max back to southpaw still. See, I actually feel like Volkanovski would prefer Max to be in southpaw because he can get such good angles like you just saw there. Steps out and goes with a leg kick. He goes out and then in. He can do so many fakes. That's good inside fighting from Max. Yeah, it is.

A little short combination. It is, but he's giving away. There's a switch stance on the way in off the angle change. This is what I mean. There's all these little subtle things that Alex does. That was a nice. Great job by Max. Max has had a good two minutes here.

And it's really the last minute, and it's Sensko and Southpaw, and this is the only offense he's pretty much consistently had outside of those body jabs in the first round. And then I was the last minute, and it's Sensko and Southpaw, and this is the only offense he's pretty much consistently had outside of those body jabs in the first round. And then I was about to say, Alex is going a little bit away from the late kicks, and he just brings it back there. Ooh, just misses with the turning back kick. I don't think this was enough for Max to win the round, but he figured something out, Luke.

I don't know if it's sustainable, the Southpaw position. I might give the round to him. I'm not sure how I feel about it. I don't think you can enough for Max to win the round, but he figured something out, Luke. I don't know if it's sustainable, the southpaw position. I might give the round to him. I'm not sure how I feel about it. I don't think you can. He didn't do enough. Look, he had a couple even exchanges, but the way that Volkanovski controlled those first four minutes, even though it wasn't overly exciting, it has to be worth something.

It's a little hard to tell about damage when you can't hear the commentary or you can't hear the strikes land. 10-9 Volkanovski to zip on my card And I do remember a max comeback Interesting because they switched roles on the rematch in terms of who was coming on in the second half I Might go I don't know you won't be able to live with yourself if you go max in this round Tony But that could be also other decisions that you made throughout the years. There's plenty of decisions I regret. I might go Alex on that one, I think.

Barely, though. Barely. I think it was wider than you realized. It might have been. Yeah. God, that leg is getting chewed to pieces. Yep. They got the double ice bag treatment front and back on Max, and it's bright red. I mean, it looks like my skin, Luke.

You know what I mean? You ever go to Jamaica and eat a hot dog there? Like, it's just a weird color red. It's just like an off-brand red. You know what I'm saying? Yeah, it's the kind of red you were on Showtime National Television when you were filming for Jim Gray. Have you ever eaten P3? I mean, it couldn't be more gross.

No, hell no. I'm more of a hollerhead guy when it comes to consuming UFC products, Luke. I don't think I've ever had Devour. No, no. I have had Mickey's malt liquor, though. I've had Mickey's. I can't hate on Mickey's. All right, round three, Luke.

Max is back in Southpaw. Because he had success, all right? Also, the other lead leg was getting chewed up. You're damn right about that as well. So whether he did it out of necessity, Luke, it has been the saving grace for him to not get essentially, you know, completely swallowed so far in terms of getting out technique. So there's that stutter step stance switch that Volk tried and missed. A little flicking leg kick there. A little smile between the two.

Luke, they recognize this reel in this case. Oh, yeah. I mean, I think Max realized he's not dealing with a dummy here. There's that same one. Dude, that lead right hand, especially since he's kind of in mid-stand switch. So, it disguises it. So, what he does is he switches stances. He balls up and then he absorbs the shot.

And then he catches and shoots right off of it. Look at the head movement there from Volk. Pretty good. He's getting backed up now. Real champions ball up, Luke. You know what I'm saying? Real champions none up. Oof.

Max seems a little hesitant to let that left hand go. He just can't quite find the mark on it, right? Nice little push kick there from Volk. Rare thing that he throws throws but it's there so all is that home run he was trying to land damn he's still small for this way class you can't believe it but even though he used to weigh what 240 see there's that same sort of blitz stance switch yeah like that again and then he comes over the top and then switches it up you notice that yeah actually actually he actually went back the other way this

time beautiful do you think he's taller than Rogan no I've seen both in person I think they're about the same let's pause for the vaping nice counter left hand there see Wow I mean this is you know what is this you sneeze with your kovat earlier I don't want to hear it. Is this Triller right now, Pete Davidson? Whose hood is this? All right, about three minutes here. Oh, nice right hand. That's a flush right hand.

That was a nice right hand. Nice right hand. He's squaring up more or less to throw that. Look how tall he is now, too. He's still leaning over, though. Oh, and he's chomping up the other leg on Max now. Yeah, Max is... I wonder how tall he is now, too. He's still leaning over, though. Oh, and he's chopping up the other leg on Max now. Yeah, Max is... So I do remember at this point in the press row, they're thinking, like, is it me or does Max need to really...

Do something different. Yeah. Because, you know, simple math will tell you we're running out of time here. See how he always is able to, like, step forward and over when he's in orthodox against the south like that? Yes. And then he can fake level changes. Dude, constant thing. We're only paying attention to the strikes because really that's a little bit more important for when you're scoring around.

Dude, another lead right hand. And then a left over the top. And it's always when he's squaring up, Luke, which is normally, you know, it wouldn't be advisable to square up like that. But just think about it. He maintains kicking range and his arms are very far apart. So he has to do something dramatic to get inside. So he has all these little angles, stance switches, f feints and entries to help him to help him do that or to intercept pressure He's got a really good way of overcoming any kind of reach disadvantage like that again

And that was a different angle than the other hoax too, so he's again that one was blocked, but you see what I'm saying Now he's fighting like a pirate like a dirty pirate. I don't know what you imagine pirates look like. I more think about what they smell like. Oh, man! But Max caught him, too, at the same time. A little bit, yeah. Now Volk's feeling it. Ooh.

Okay. It seems about this time each round, you know, final 90 seconds, it actually heats up for a bit and then it cools down. Max having a hard time finding him here. And he's got a, you know, it's a what, two and a half inch reach advantage, but a five inch height advantage. No, actually, well, okay, according to the tale of tape, he has a two and a half inch reach disadvantage.

Oh, Volk is even longer. Allegedly, allegedly. Oh, nice. Oh, this is what I mean, dude. That's nasty. All the different ranges, all a quick succession from different stances. You know, even when he gets labeled incorrectly during this time as like the, you know. Point fighter?

Point fighter, calf kicker, like, you know, in terms of a negative aspect. Dude, it's much more than that. I mean, he's landing flush. Dude, the science and the cleverness and... And he's not circling away as if the descriptions make it sound when people speak about him. No, no, no. He was, no, nice, nice knee to the liver there from Max. That was great.

He's making the action happen here. Yeah. That was a hard shot from Max. That was good. Kicks out the base. I want to pay attention to something. When you kick out someone's base like that and they have to reform their stance, you can attack that and it's frustrating for them.

So not only do you create an opportunity for a target with very little defense. Oof. Oof. Dude, Max can't handle that right hand, Luke. And it's a lead shot every time, too. But I want to point out something. You force them to reset constantly as well. Yes.

I just don't think folks appreciate how important that is for frustrating an opponent where you're constantly making them essentially start over. Okay, that's a clear round for Volkanovski. Yeah, it's 3-0. Second round. There he is. There's the champ, Izzy. A dis-on-ya.

I thought it was a dis-on-ya. A dis-on-ya. I'll put a dis on you, you know you put a hex on me, bro so dude 30 on my card and you saw a max in the final lie what 30 seconds kind of doing now we're doing spinning shit Yeah, well he was doing it before but it was landing I'll say I'm gonna say swing to has so far been the closest round But dude the if yes, no so far swings. Yeah,? Yeah, two is the only round you could give to Max

and you could argue for it, but it's not. It is 3-0. That's the real score. But dude, that right hand... No, no, I'm saying what should be the real score. But that right hand every time, dude. No jab to set it up. He disguises it and he times it. His timing, that's another thing folks don't realize.

His fucking timing. Like Valentina, the timing. She does have good timing. No, she has exceptional all- does timing. That's nothing folks don't realize his fucking timing like Valentina the timing. She does have good timing No, she has exceptional all right, but she doesn't throw with the same volume that Volkanovski does and she's also not fighting the same Level of difficulty let's be real about that Yo, she would kick she would tap him who Volkanovski. Yeah, I should tap your bitch ass Fight that mine too in all fairness All right, who's the mouth breather in the back there you hear me just yelling at him yeah I'd be like shut the fuck up what do you know you wouldn't say shit though

I did get no I haven't taken the time I got all right here we go round three uh round four excuse me max opening in southpaw for the again staying in southpaw yeah I nearly got in a fight at the Kimbo fight with Bellator no yeah so when Kimbo fought Ken Shamrock, there was – Bellator does this, which just blows my mind. They seat their VIPs right in front of media so media can't see shit. And you're like, oh, media, what do you care about? It's like, dude, if you're on press row, you have a job to do. You need to be able to see the fights.

And, by the way, UFC doesn't do this. They don't put people in front. Bellator would put people in front, and they put Ken Shamrocks family in front of rig right hand that's a big right hand from alex and they stood the whole time i'm like certain you please sit your seas that we paid for these unlike a you paid for this feet and i pointed out he got my face you can actually see it on camera we were like this close to each other mostly what you say to him

i think that's the doubt and eventually he did all right and therefore connoisseurs did you let slip like, I'm a Marine, motherfucker? No, I don't pull that card. But I did have to have words with this motherfucker. Yo, who would have shot first? He was older at the time. I mean, now I'm an old piece of shit, but I probably would have. Double leg?

High C? Single leg, run the pipe. All right. Jab from Max. That was good. All right, so I remember now, obviously, if I had Volkanovski up 3-0 on rewatch, this is a Max comeback.

Attempted single, and Max has, as we know, lights out takedown defense. But these two rounds are the Max comeback. I haven't seen the comeback really fully engage it. Because Max came back to make it redeemable. Is he winning this round so far? Now Max back

in orthodox? Do we remember what the scores were in the end? I don't. I'll look it up here when it's over. Oh, body shot and leg kick. Dude, he's so good. Also, he won't necessarily jab with you,

but if you jab, then he kicks out the post leg when you jab. He's really, really clever about just destroying your base. Nice jab from Max, intercepting him. That was good. Yeah, because that's the setup for the lead right hand. Max saw the timing this time. Nice, nice. Good jab from Max there.

This is Max turning it back around right here. Almost at the halfway mark. Starting to build up momentum back to him winning this time. Nice, nice. Good job. This is Max turning it back around right here. Almost at the halfway mark. Starting to build up momentum back to him winning this round. So let's be safe here. No one's arguing that Max could have won or should have won the first one. No, no, dude, I took calls on this after the fight in my radio show at the time. I was on SiriusXM. I had a lot of people who thought Max won this. A lot. Now you got to remember, Volkanovski was relatively unknown. No one saw the Aldo fight, and Max is beloved, obviously. Right, and sometimes if there's

not a cut or a knockdown, people are just like, oh, he didn't do enough. He's doing enough so far, Luke. Now it's interesting. He's the one intercepting, which I think that they realized was better for him, which is why they switched the strategy the second time around. Oh, good uppercut from Max.

I don't think it landed fully, but it got through. You know, I didn't want to ask you about the tattoos on Max's back, because I don't think you're going to have positive things to say. Listen, I got bad tattoos, too. I mean, what can I say? Is the one over your navel a bad one or a good one? It's a bad one. Is the one over your butt crack a good one or a good one? It's a bad one. Is the one over your butt crack

a good one or a bad one? My tramp stamp? Yeah, that was your tramp stamp. I want to tattoo it right on my coccyx, you know, right on there in the lower tramp stamp zone.

I already regret doing this video. Oh, good body shot from Max. And he got out of the way, too. So I remember giving Max the final two rounds here. By the way, no coincidence, up against the fence, a little bit more for Max to land.

Right in the Dave and Buster zone. So I know in hindsight, I remember giving Max four and five. Do you think Max has done enough up to this point? Yes. So far, I think he's done a little bit more in this round.

I'd have to agree, but it is close because Volkanovski is really countering with those leg strikes every time he gets hit with anything. See that jab, that jab inside the strike. I wonder how much, that's the other part too, it's like, not to get all Cecil Peoples on you, how much do they count those leg kicks versus like if your jab pops the opponent's head back, it could maybe not even land that hard. It could just land right where it could produce. Oh, see that?

Pop in his head in that exchange. When he has those, he got a little greedy there too. That's when I feel like, you know, when he's a little bit, anytime one of them is stationary, the other one's going to tee off. Dude, you could score this for Alex too.

Not, yes, it was close. This one seems to me like Max delivered the better one. I'm not a Volkanovski guy like you are, but I've got to give him respect. I did give this to Max. I'm going to edge it to Max a second time, too. It's close, though. 10-9 Holloway. We're back in it.

But, Luke, on my scorecard, at least, he needs a finish. Yeah, so on your scorecard, it's going to be seeing the body kick. It's a little bit of a right hand there, but not much. So you have a 2-2 right now. No, here's what I would say. You could have it 3-1 to Alex, or you could have it 2-2. I think either of those scorecards would be acceptable at this point.

And again, it's good that they didn't really mix it up a whole lot in the sense that in the sense that we don't have to really worry about like, well, did he do damage in the scoring that, you know, we don't have to really worry about, like, well, did he do damage in the scoring ground position? It's really just who did more damage, and they were standing up, and it's sort of easier to judge in that sense. Who do you think has the better whizzer between those two?

Max, maybe. They both got pretty good ones. Do you know what a whizzer is? You know, it's like when you're, like, you know, defending a takedown, and, you know, then you whizzer them, and you reverse that shit. A whizzer is an overhook of an underhook. Right, unless you kind of reach around and get from the under to the overhook.

Dude, you're that dumbass person at the party. Okay, so here's the thing that doesn't really happen anymore because I'm 42. Do they fuck after the fight? Yes, exactly. It's like, I can't tell you how many people, and I'm not trying to stereotype, but usually girls. Round five, Luke. Yeah, when they would come over to the house, you'd watch the UFC fights, and they would always's like, I can't tell you how many people, and I'm not trying to stereotype, but usually girls. Round five, Luke.

Yeah, when they would come over to the house, you'd watch the UFC fights, and they would always be like, are these two guys going to fuck? Mark Ray Mundy in the crowd. This is just insanely homoerotic, and it is. But it's like, can we just watch the fight and enjoy it? I think that guy in the back is telling his girls.

You see that? Was that Dana? I don't know. All right. Dude, you wanted nothing to do with that conversation. You got the fuck out of the watch the fight bitch this this is again you can say what you want round two is the swing around three to one Volkanovski for you two are you two I would go I would probably be I don't

know what I was the first time I saw it I'm more to to-2-ish now. But again, 2-2 or 3-1, that's it. You could just say deuce-deuce, right? Please get the fuck out. Max's starting to talk a little. These guys are well-matched. Max feels like he's figured it out right here. You can see it on the swagger. I think he feels like he had a really good round. Body shot was a nice call. So he's hoping that 2 is a swing round. That's what he's figured it out right here. You can see on the swagger I think he feels like he had a really good round or yeah, he's bad. He shot was a nice call He's hoping that too is a swing round look. That's what he's hoping by the way

I've always thought attacking Volkanovski his body was really important in the sense that his head is Well-covered or he does good distance management. The body's just a little bit easier to hit. He also can slip and throw He's got so people who can slip guys have good distance management you've got to really go heavy to the body with them. Dude, even when it's partially landed, Volkanovski's counters are backing him up. You see how much they stagger their timing? Nothing ever happens on a consistent

metronome way, which a lot of fighters do. There's just always slight delays, slight angle changes. Both of them. Volkanovski's getting the better of these exchanges so far in this final round. It's pretty even. I think Volkanovski's been busier, though. Oh, there it is.

That's the right hand. See, these are good. Okay, again, what put Max off, it was disrupting his base. Now, Max got the better of that exchange, but I just want to point out the wisdom of what Volkanovsky is doing. Disrupting the base allowed him to exit out and limit the damage. Yeah, dude, Max is feeling it to the body. The body attacks. Okay, feel my shit now.

Let's go. I remember the crowd picking up here, Luke. I can't hear them. I'm going to take a dump in a bag and hand you the bag and be like, feel my shit. Old man Campbell, he hates shit. Who doesn't? He called the shit poo. You know what BC told me?

He told me he goes into the local dumper here, leaves one, and then doesn't flush. So the next person has to look at it. I was like, BC, you're deprived. I did overflow that toilet. After we had Mediterranean. Left hook there for Alex. Wouldn't really count that as much.

Could have considered a McKenzie team right there, but thought better of it. You don't even know what a McKenzie team is. By the way, both guys have, should be noted, I mean, I'm sure they're tired, but they've got phenomenal cardio. I mean, this pace is not, like, it's not crazy high, but it's a consistent nervous high. All right, here's what I'll tell you. Because you did make a case how you could have it 2-2 entering the fifth.

Not that it matters, because it doesn't matter that way in scoring, but the stuff, Volkanovsky's stuff has been far more clear and impressive compared to the offense Max has had, which has been more situational and hair in there, Luke. I would say the body punching and the body attacks in this round have been really good. No, they have, but I'm saying that if you're looking at it only from who would you rather be or who did the better work overall, to this point, Volkanovski's had the better fight. Yeah, overall, certainly. Even by one standard, I'd be giving it to him. That's a nice one.

I think he poked him a little bit. Good body shot. Oh, elbow over the top. That was vicious. You're going to bring that type of violence to the clinch. He rolled with that one, but that was a good shot, too. But Volkanovsky's a different level danger if he's bringing that in. Look at that right there.

Clever right hand. Weaved underneath and came over the top. That was nice. Look at that. Dude, same weave he just did, but rather than the right hand, heaved underneath and came over the top. That was nice. Look at that. Dude, same weave he just did, but rather than the right hand, he goes for the knee tap. Volkanovski's ability to just make new patterns is incredible. I think one and maybe even two judges gave this 4-1, if I remember correctly. That's interesting.

And you can see an avenue for it. Dude, these rounds are close. You would agree, right? Whoever you have, these are two well-matched, highly skilled fighters, and there's not a huge gap between them. A noticeable one time to time, maybe, but not a huge gap. They're very well-matched. Oh, Max is going to want that one back. Double jab. A little bit more. Not a huge damage shot, but...

Those are directly to the nose, though. That'll F you up a little bit, Luke. Yeah, it will. What's the hardest anyone's ever punched your nose seriously you ever had someone punch your nose um not no i guess no but i mean i've certainly been hit in the nose i got hit with one like you know basketball and sport i know i mean i've left hook there from max i got got. I got hit with one one time. I couldn't believe it didn't break my nose. It bloodied it immediately. And, dude, my eyes watered for like an hour.

It was so fucking painful. All right, so here they are. They're going to close the round here. Boy, that's a close fight, man. That's a close round five. Max trying to finish strong and then spins to a takedown, and then that's it. Man, I got to tell you, I'm going to give round five to Max. Yeah.

Dude, that's a, you know what? My inclination is to kind of say on second watch or whatever fucking watch this is at this point, maybe a Max fight, but it's so close. I don't see enough evidence to support that. I really don't. You know, re-watching it and really focused on what the good things that Volkanovski did do.

In real time, I scored a three to two him. I may have ended up here kind of three to two, but I would have no it and really focused on the good things that Volkanovski did do and in real time I scored a 3-2 to him. I may have ended up here kind of 3-2, but I would have no problem with 4-1, Luke. Really. You can see 3-2 max, right? You can see 2-4-5 for him? I cannot see 3-2 max. I cannot. Really? You can't find 3 rounds for him? Nope. It has to be extreme benefit.

His two best rounds in your mind are 4-5, right? They're definitely 4-5, but what I'm saying is 4-5 were a lot closer than I remember them to be, and two is a hard round to give them, man. Honestly, I think four one Alex is fine. I think three two Alex is fine, and I do think you could make a case for three two max. Let me see what the official numbers were as they show the highlights here. Michael Bell had it 48-47. He gave rounds two, and 5 to Volkanovski. Junichiro Kamijo, who is, by the way, a phenomenal, phenomenal judge. All five to Volkanovski.

I think that's a little much, but I can understand it. Dude, but the thing is... And lastly, Chris Lee, first three to Volkanovski. That's, to me, the case that I agree with the most, although I grant there are four rounds. Although it doesn't matter in the end, in the two potential swing rounds, 2 and 4, I like Alex's case to have maybe one round 4 better than I like Max's to have one round two because I think agree He landed better offense. That's fair. That's fair. I would agree with that

I think that's fair and again, I read the media scores You can see them here real quickly be see if just glance literally every single one is for Volkanovski is your name in there? I don't submit rounds like that to MMA decisions But if you do if you ought to do is is submit your score on Twitter and then tag them. You think I care about that clout? I'm in this for the craft, right? For the art. It's just for fun.

Like, what are you doing? You doing a bit here? I'm not doing anything. That's the thing. It's like joining a fraternity. I didn't join the damn fraternity. I didn't need to. Yeah, you didn't have any fun in your early years.

I had a shitload of fun. That's the difference between you and me. My community college didn't have fraternities, to be fair. Yes, you mean the Connecticut School of Bedpan Technology didn't have a thriving Greek scene? UFC 251, Luke. Where was this? Was this in Abu Dhabi, Jim? So let's go ahead.

Let me look this up here very quickly, if I may. So we are talking about, I think it's 251. Yeah, it says it on the screen right there. Oh, yeah, sorry. Well, they can't see that, you fucking idiot. So here we go. This was, and let's see, UFC 251 was in Abu Dhabi. That's right.

This was a pandemic fight then, right? Yes, it was. Let's go to it now. Now, this was a much closer fight. I'm going to just sort of spoil it. This one was a split decision. Volkanovski, yes, with the two-and-a- advantage despite being five inches shorter. That is wild. That is just wild. All right. So now the tail of the tape is showing on our screen in case you want to get your videos ready. Here's

Bruce Buffer. Now see this jacket from Buffer I'm all about. Is that, what color is that? Mauve? I'm going to call that eggshell. Eggshin. That's you, bitch. I'm like, BC, why is it when you eat like a croissant, you're going to tell me how you won't teach the magic to the guai lo? Luke, Max trained for this fight over Zoom. Bitch, you believe that shit? Oh, by the way, speaking of things that I can't believe, congratulations, you made it here. 50th watch starts now of this rematch.

Here we go. Let's hear it for him. Shut the fuck up. You're not allowed to fucking Joan on me. Herb Dean, your referee for this rematch. Oh, look, they got the lights down a little different this time. Oh, yeah. This was no crowd Abu Dhabi, right?

I don't have that. I believe that's right. This was no crowd Abu Dhabi. Or at least, you know, like family and friends. There was probably a sultan in the building, right? Oh, a sultan? Yeah. it's not like royalty okay I mean we're gonna stop right now and we're not gonna talk further about that all right then plus 185 underdog Holloway in the rematch remember he was minus 200 favorite the first time around Luke and I think that's fair I mean I kind of saw a four-to-one fight the first time on rewatch. And I think that's fair. I mean, I kind of saw a 4-1 fight

the first time on rewatch now. I will say, Max look a little thinner to you here? Yes. A little bit? He's obviously railed in. New left bicep out there, Luke. What does it say? Something place? Tenth Island, I believe.

I don't think it says that. All right, all right, look at us he still had hair here I forgot about that I Think yeah, so he only didn't have hair for two fights Luke Ortega and TKZ unless he was bald early on and the UFC right here we go. Ooh! Good right hand, a counter right hand from Alex. Little shades of the first fight. Max wearing the ninja shoes. Okay, so a bit of a change here.

This is one thing Eugene Bearman was sort of big on. Look how much more upright Max is. He has a wide stance, but he's not leaning over that front leg. He's looking to intercept a little bit more. I kind of like his body language. He looks very confident here. Where in round one of the first fight, you could see he's looking to intercept a little bit more. I kind of like his body language. He looks very confident here. In round one of the first fight, you could see he was trying to catch up with the computer of what Alex was doing to him. Here, he looks ready.

Two hands up and kind of out in front of him. What do you think about him switching from the boxer shorts from Reebok to the ninja cut-the-side slit shorts? I never understand that. I guess they just don't like the look of the biker shorts or something. Is that like some kind of muay thai thing or something these shorts i don't know as long as it's not wearing like the hector camacho like you know where it looks like you're

wearing like women's underwear you know that one that look hector camacho had a lot of extravagant looks yes not much going on here early in round one but i have a feeling max is going to land something heavy luke if history serves me Right, I don't know. I have never rewatched this fight though. Isn't that weird? Isn't that weird, right? You gonna do this all day or no, that's the dichotomy of us Luke, right? Yes, you're an infant and I'm an old piece of shit Alright, here we go Max's oh, yeah, that was great. See how max kind of fainted got a reaction then switch it up and

went to the uh real leg uh tee you know already Max is like okay you're not the only one kicking to the leg this this round Luke and I like that because he ate that shit in the first fight and that made the difference the kicking to the leg was the difference like you were not ready to admit that but it really was okay along with the right hands Max coming with a linear so here was one of the big sort of takeaways I had from the You were not ready to admit that, but it really was. Okay. Along with the right hands. Max coming in with a linear. So here was one of the big sort of takeaways I had from the fight, if I may. Much more linear attacks up the middle.

You recall in the first fight, remember when Max hit him with that knee up the middle? Yes. Now, not all of them were successful. Obviously, Volkanovski is going to be able to do a lot with it. But he barely touched Volkanovski in terms of power shots in the first fight where you saw a shot have impact right that changed in This rematch. That's right, and I think the thing I would sort of point out is the linear attacks with her uppercuts You see the rear leg push kick. They're all coming up the middle Sort of one of the big I prefer when guys fighting like a Venn diagram Do you know what a Venn diagram is yes look I took I took geometry, okay?

Alright, I got a D sophomore year. I got grounded, but I picked it up, all right? I like this long-haired Max, you know? He looks wise. Now, Max is always kind of fainting, but he did a lot more of it here. And you see how he's kind of answering. Answering. That's right, because he's kind of waiting to see once he commits what he can bring behind it was another big big change there He is yeah, I like that little check left hook. He's throwing and they also look where Max's eyes are to their weight Like right where they need to be for that that was a nice two punch combination Yes, well, but again like here's the thing about Volk sometimes Volk will feed you something and kind of absorb a shot

Just to see what decision you've made in that context and then put something else behind it to take it away later so you think you've uncovered a a oh i got something on him but all he's done is set you up to change that on top of what you think you found bitch you ain't got shit right he's just for he's a dude he's a difficult guy to beat i i you know if max can beat him on uh ufc 276 that would be truly incredible like to beat this version of this kind of fighter that's not easy should we no longer consider him a CKB fighter I always forget where that's at oh okay so you missed it and right hand kind of like rocked him a little bit or stumbled him and then max would have taunted him here again writes down the middle like the hooking shots that's a good they have value but early he's going linear body attacks again I think

it's really good. Changing angles off the jab. There's just so much things that these guys are doing. This is kind of what it looked like Max wanted. I know it's a different stance, but it looked like this is the type of establishment Max wanted in the first fight. By the way, you see that? Another linear attack straight through the middle.

He really couldn't establish it. It took him a while to figure this guy out, but it's a good start. It's a very good start for Max, considering I didn't think the first fight was as close as I originally thought here. It's also amazing. I think people lose sight of it because it's easy to do that. Look at how much these two make each other turn. Yes. But dude, look at how

much Max is flowing. Your feet have to be under you at all times to have the balance to throw. Something else we don't talk about, Volkanovski, look at his balance. You rarely see him, and this is MMA where you obviously scrambling can be off-balancing in a lot of ways. Whenever he throws, look at how centered his weight is under him. He almost never

falls over his skis. Well, in general, his left hand is much more educated this fight and he's using variety with it. Even when he's doing almost like a Stockton slap. Oh, good kick by Max. The slap is like Oh, there it is. He dropped him. Yes. It's playing into his swagger. Like, this is a much more confident effort from him and I like it. 10-9 Max here and to be able to get the knockdown. Now, you can't. It's a heck of a drop. It's playing into his swagger. This is a much more confident effort from him, and I like it.

10-9 Max here. And to be able to get the knockdown, it's a flash knockdown. There's no 10-8 arguments in either of these. Not a chance it's a 10-8, but it's a clear 10-9 for Max. Clear 10-9. So now Volkanovski's task is if he's not going to get the finish, which of course we know he's not, he has to win three of the next four. You're already down around. Dude, at this level get the finish, which of course we know he's not, he has to win three of the next four. You're already down a round.

At this level of the game, people don't really think about all the different minor calculations that these guys have to make as the fight progresses. Dude, being already, like, you have to win three or four against Max Holloway, good fucking luck. Yeah, that really is. And to jump right back on him.

He smothered himself a little bit, but he got out of the way. Boy, that was a big shot. That's a nice shot. And you see Volkanovski. Here's what set that up, all those body attacks. Yes. The body attacks really brought the guard down there of Volkanovski, and he was able to put that one over the top.

That was nice from Max Holloway. What a round by him. I'm still impressed at the overall adjustments Max made between fights one and two. You know, he just came out. I say it all the time. Those guys, Ivan Flores, it's funny. I love those guys. I want to explain this real quickly.

They're terrible interviews. And here's what I mean by that. They are the nicest, sweetest, smartest people in the game, but they're not going to tell you shit about what they're doing. And I think these are those guys. They really honor that martial arts code. Bushido, bitch. What I mean is learn in silence.

And obviously it's a professional, like, tactic. Don't share your secrets. Children should be seen, not heard. That's right. But I mean, like, you know, working in the dark and letting the results speak for themselves is sort of what I was getting at. All right, round two, 445 here. And also, these push kicks disrupting the guy's base, making him turn, making him reset, and then trying to find something after that. There it is, that uppercut up the middle.

See that? Linear attacks through the middle. No, but him turn, making him reset, and then trying to find something after that. There it is, that uppercut up the middle. See that? Linear attacks through the middle. No, but that was a good counter shot from Alex. Yeah. So now, here's the thing. Who made the bigger adjustment between round five and round six? Max. Max did.

So now Alex has to readjust to this newer Max, and this is going to be basically his effort. He doesn't adjust in time here, Luke. This is not going to be his round, if I remember correctly. We'll see. Four minutes left. But it's the same Max from round one, although you can see the redness on that left leg inside of Max is starting to show.

Yes. So Max was able to absorb the kick. There's an uppercut. Oh, beautiful combination. Again, again, linear attacks. And by the way, not just linear attacks straight through the middle, but up low to high as well, which an uppercut obviously the trajectory is. Max committing to these power shots.

And the first time he couldn't. The openings weren't there, and Alex was gone. Also, it's a good read on this team because if you notice, sometimes Volkanovski will cover and then lower his head, which brings obviously his face closer to the ground, which obviously makes the uppercut, if you can find it, easier said than done, but it makes the uppercut at least a suitable choice. Volkanovski, his feints are getting answered with refaints that are also threats from Max,

so it's slowing down his feinting a little bit. He really needed some time to get going here. Max really brought it. His team did a lot of homework. Look how little Max, Max is getting eaten up. I mean, look at the leg. It's red. But relative to the first fight, it's a lot less.

Or at least it feels like a lot less anyway. I don't know if the math matches up, but 50 times 25 minutes might equal 10,000 hours, Luke, under Malcolm Gladwell's book, which means you're an expert on this fight right here. This fight right here. You're an expert on it. Thanks, BC.

I'm really happy you're here. Okay. Yeah, you're right. Max answering, doubling up, tripling up. It's keeping the distance between them, Luke. Yeah. You see now Volkanov, you can see him trying to weave his way in here a little bit. Damn, he does have long arms for a little guy.

Don't Max's look longer, though, visually? Yes. And his torso, obviously, I mean... Look at that. That little checkbook coming in. That's just brilliant. And this is a close fight. This is a chess match round, Luke.

Yeah, the other guy realizes this, but you cannot give away rounds to these guys because they're just too hard to hit. If you're down a round, it just puts you in such a disadvantageous competitive position. Better left hook from Volkanovski. Now he's starting to warm up, right about here. Little by little. There you go.

Doing a much better job cutting the cage off too luke yes there's that knee through the middle again intercepting is the one insight and two um low to high and then three obviously in the middle dude max i mean you already praised them but like they know what they're doing to term in terms of footwork in terms of really looking to to set traps on people i mean it's so subtle dude the key is this like max made a big adjustment between rounds five and six and i say that to say they had a lot of time off to study tape go back to the lab and come up with a new strategy. One of the key things that is worth thinking about is I've seen Max have really good adjustments against other guys. But between these two, it looks to me like Volkanovski makes the faster in-round adjustments.

Does that make sense? Yes. There's a different kind of strategy between making adjustments between fights and then in the middle of the round. And Volkanovski seems to have a little bit of a speed advantage in that sense. And you certainly prefer the latter in terms of being able to make in the moment. They can each be beneficial, but yes,

you're right. It's such a valuable skill to take something away from a guy as the fight goes on. Which would happen in this fight. Whether, you know, depending on, it doesn't matter who you thought won. I mean, this adjustment that's coming up from Volkanovski is absolutely legit. But Max having his way here, a minute to go, it's been Max's round. Luke, I don't know if you can argue that, even though it's been close. Yeah, that was a nice left hand that kind of didn't get all the way through,

but that was good from Volkanovski. You can see he's beginning to get closer and beginning to land some of the more low-hanging fruit of what is typically available to him. What do you make of that swelling under the left eye of Volkanovski? Yeah, I think, you know, I don't know how well we can really judge whether or not Volkanovski can tolerate facial damage. Ooh, that's a partial lick. It was a bad camera angle.

It didn't really get the full look out of it. But that one didn't quite go. But the point I want to make is maybe he cuts and scratches easier than some folks. People think it's all the same across people. It's definitely not. Oh, beautiful uppercut. So here was the thing. Even if the rest of that round was relatively even, that uppercut sealed it. And again, I go back to those linear attacks

to the middle. I sound like a broken record. I'm sorry. But it is so critical to understanding the second fight adjustments. 2-0 Max Holloway. And there's really nothing you can say against him. And look at him pointing to the ground. Yeah. Now, that round was definitely a much more even round than the first. Look at Max play mind games.

I like that. Yeah. Yeah. I mean, how many times have we not counted Max out? Definitely not. But, like, questioned. You know, obviously the Bisping incident with the TV station pulling out of 2-23. I was worried about him.

You know, how would he recover from the Poirier loss? And yet he went back in there against Ortega and handled his business. His ability to bounce back from anything. I mean, he always has the it is what it is mentality, Luke, which may not fill up your quote book the best when you're interviewing him, but it works, dude. He's able to compartmentalize and then just drop the effects of loss or anything and bounce right back. Look at that. Caught him coming in and then finished with the effects of loss or anything and bounce right back.

Look at that. Caught him coming in and then finished with the left hook off the flush. Beautiful combination. There's the knee. But, dude, the best part was to me that he didn't stay in front of Volkanovski. He hits him with the uppercut and then hits him with the left hook. There it is. Now watch him angle change.

Oh, no, no, no. That's a different one. And then cuffed him to put him down. I like that. But, dude. Oh, and then catch him on the way back. Yeah. I was going to say, he angle changed off the finishing left hook.

Like, dude, Max's boxing is slick. Yes. Round three. Now, this is going to be where the debate starts. When did the official Volkanovski turn of the fight happen, Luke? Is it right now? Let's find out. That's probably the hardest leg kick he might have landed.

At least one of the better ones up to this point. And that's a gnarly red on Max's leg. Again, they're not all the same. They all do different things, but they all... There he is. Let's see. Dude, the threat of the high kick from Max was not there

in the first fight. It is here now. So let's see what they can do to occupy. Check there from Max. Wall Street? Do you ever go down to occupy Wall Street? I went down there once, and I was like, you know, I'm against big corporations and all that stuff too, but this place is fecund with disease.

Minus 400 live betting. A lot of drum circles. Yes. A lot of drum circles. Yes. Do you think there was any crossover in the crowds between Jan 6 and Occupy Wall Street? Probably a little. Some people were willing to fight for freedom, Luke. And some were willing to

smear shit on a desk. Here we go. A little more sophisticated and then longer feints with angle changes and movement, level changes as well. See how he's putting it all together? He's just a little bit busier with it. Staying predominantly in, there he is, trying to find entries. Finishing with a leg kick and then again. He's just putting on a pace there. You see when he forces continuous decision-making,

he can usually lead someone into some kind of bigger shot. The one-offs, it's kind of even, but when he can begin to make a series of rotations through decisions, that's when it gets a little harder for his opponents. This is already a good adjustment for Volkanovsky. He's able to get off of his offense without taking anything in return. You can clearly see he's just got more swag this round. Yes, he's also coming forward more. Yep, and good timing, look at the timing on that left hook.

Max needs to utilize that front kick more, Luke, to create that space to stop these Volkanovski darts in and out. Yep. Oh, so that same little switch step he does with the turn to, like, usually throw the right hook, he level changes now for the takedown. It's the same setup, but again, he weaves in takedowns behind them. Would you insert the word legendary in Max Holloway's takedown defense?

It's exceptional. I probably got over my skis on this one because Habib is who he is, but I remember when he's going to fill in for Tony. And I interviewed him, and I had said, dude, Max has outrageously good takedown defense. Now, probably against Habib, no one could stand up to that. Okay, fair enough, and in retrospect. But on the feet, that would be interesting. Right, but dude, against his peers at Featherweight, they have extreme difficulty getting him down. The very, very best guys in the world can barely do it.

This is going to be interesting how you score this round, Luke, because... This is Volkanovski's round to me thus far. I mean, he adjusted quicker than I remember here. He's right back in control of this. He's a lot busier. I want to see if Max authors anything here worth arguing over, but that's another good left hook. By the way, attacks now from more of the left hooking for Volkanovsky

because they want to keep the right hand. Look at that. They want to keep the right hand occupied of Max a little bit. See that? They want to keep that hand up there, and then he switches switches it up, then he goes linear. So understand what happened here. Volkanovski wanted to find a way to occupy the right hand, the uppercut hand of Max. So one of the things they were doing was just throwing a little bit more up there. And then as Max is really sort of registering that this has to be defensive, now he just begins to jab up the

middle, just setting all kinds of different traps and making adjustments. Clever, clever stuff. This is an aggressive mixture of leg strikes too, which is really changing the color of that inside left leg on Max. Excuse me. Damn, good round for Volkanovski. Under a minute to go. Yeah, Max much more thinking this round. Attacking, for sure.

But on the retreat, to a certain degree. And Max not going back to southpaw, Luke. Just a lot. He's really got... I mean, he did that somewhat out of desperation or somewhat out of the leg in the first fight being marked up. But this lead leg's getting chewed up just the same. Max just tough as nails.

Max is really tough. Max has a legendary chin. In fact, it's going to be... I hope it never happens, and I hope we never see it, by the way. Good jabs again. Now he's able to adjust the angle of the shot himself, the punch. But I never want to live in a world where Max has been put out. Yeah.

I don't want to live in that one. No. I'll stop watching the sport if it happens. I don't know if I'll go to that measure, but it would break my heart. Is that a cut on Max's nose? I'm going to have to check the monitor. Okay, that's a Volkanovski round to me. Yeah, two to one Max.

That's a Volkanovski round to me. And the reality is, Max had made some head, excuse me, Volkanovski had made some headway in the second round, but that uppercut at the end really sealed the round for Max. Yes. So it wasn't like he had nothing going for him, and then all of a sudden he turned it on the third. But I do think that obviously this is the first round where you were like,

this is the first round I felt like Max was fighting Volkanovski's fight. Absolutely. Well said. A little cut, a little abrasion on the nose. Max getting some treatment, not from Down House this time, Luke. Some guy with a double star tattoo on his left forearm. Couldn't see who it was. Okay.

How many of these dumb tattoo jokes do you have? A bunch? I don't know how that's a joke. There's nothing funny about it. The guy throwing the crotch like this. I was barely listening to you. I'm sorry. Yeah, he had two giant stars tattooed.

I didn't know if that was a tip to you. Oh, I know that guy that the star tag. Yeah, I don't know that Man how much did Jared Swift heard like my tattoo he loved it, right? Fucking kidding Do you think that championship rounds BC here we go think that there's... Championship rounds, BC. Here we go. Do you think that there's a room service diaries curse and Glover got caught in it? So I saw someone say that, like, great job to MK for transferring the resume review curse

to the RSD curse. Yeah. Sean Brady, we might have fucked you. Sorry, bud. We still love you, though. You might win. You're probably going to win. But still.

All right. Here we go. Round four. This is a quick jab from Volkanovski. Yeah, and by the way, so now you see Volkanovski, by the way, with his left hand fainting to the middle to get a reaction for the hand trap

on the back of the parry. And let's see if he goes back to the hooks. This is a crucial round because Volkanovski has to continue that momentum of the change he made in round three. And he's got to stay the aggressor. When he's the aggressor, Luke, he's got the control of this fight.

Not entirely. First fight he did. First fight he was. No. They want to pressure, but they want to intercept. Yeah, but first fight, dude. They want to elicit reactions. He was engaging the bigger.

The strikes he landed, he was the one engaging, you know, leaping in with that right hand in the first fight and really just crossing. Oh, he was walking him down, yes. Yeah, he was crossing Max's swords a bit. Right. So here we go. The leg kicks finally. Yes. I'm sure that was mostly a balance thing, but it did. You could at least if you're a judge, it's at least worth thinking about body shots now, by the way, see right how he changed that up. So instead of thinking it was a hook, not a straight, now it's a hook to the body. But it is worth thinking about whether a judge looked at that and wondered

if that was also damage related in terms of the scoring. Something to think about. Of course we have no way to know because the athletic commissions protect them like they're in the mafia, but what are you gonna do? There's O'Marry. Let Adelaide work, all right? Oh, Max has a Holloway tattoo over his navel, Luke.

There's some brother symmetry there. Glad you're here, BC. You too, and Tupac. Very valuable commentary. It's hard to get a word in, Luke. I've got to pick my moments. Fair enough, fair enough. That was nice. Okay, Max. Okay, you needed that here midway through the. Fair enough, fair enough. That was nice.

Okay, Max. Okay, you needed that here midway through the third. Fourth, excuse me. There's a lot of sliding with Volkanovski through combination. Angles change. Distance sliding back. Sliding back at an angle. There's a little bit of both.

Just pay attention to it. Oh, yeah. Look at that. Do you have a favorite cut of a triangle? What do you mean? There's different kinds of triangles, Luke. Do you have a favorite one? I know you're big into math.

Oh, you mean like acute versus? Yeah. I don't think I've ever thought about that. Okay, I don't know if it's like models of cars to people like you know I'm saying like it there's a it could be triangles yeah like the shape of a triangle the angle of it you know anything can you please stop no I'm trying to speak your language I'm trying to you know mmm that was nice he got hit with one but he came all the way back through got another one double under hooks oh here'd be a good chance for

that is by itself by itself, that's one of his best takedowns. He gets a body lock, he pulls, he gets his hips under, he pulls them up, glues their body to himself, he attaches them, and then hits that inside and then turns his hips all the way through it, counterclockwise. This is a pretty clear Alex round again, Luke.

Again, who's fighting, who's fight here? You're right. By the way, to get dropped basically twice, however fight metric counts it, and then to have the swag to come out like Volkanovski did in the third, pretty impressive. Absolutely. And there he is like touching the hand first and then going over the top, right? And then coming through the middle. So one time he goes, he taps and goes around and taps through the middle.

He pretty much added the jab this round. Volkanovskiy wasn't really working that too much and he's just coming straight up the middle with it. Well, this is a phenomenal adjustment. The question is, can he sweep all three, Luke? And he knocked his base out again. So if you're a judge and you see that, really got a weigh on you as real damage.

Well, one minute to go in round four here. Oh, another shoot. Not only did Mack stuff that, Luke, the triple uppercut to kind of create that separation. So is five the swing round then? We're about to find out. I mean, I'm asking you because I know you know this. Well, BC, can we just watch this in real time as the point of the exercise? That's a nice shot, too, catching him and making him miss.

Look at that timing. Boy, that was beautiful. Oh, and again. Damn, this is becoming a dominant round. Dude, these two guys are fucking chess grandmasters. Let there be not a ounce of doubt you know why was Bobby Fisher such a racist like I don't control right like anti-semite just like a cook I know I know and it's like he had such an admirable story in terms of

yes and then otherwise true I think he's mentally ill yeah he's mentally ill did you ever see his his face off with Jeremy Schaap? Yes. Dude, it's like hard. Bobby Fischer is like virulently racist to his face. It's like holy shit. Or anti-Semitic or whatever the proper explanation is. Just bad stuff, Luke.

All right. We go to round five. Thanks for bringing that up. That was a wonderful little sidebar we just had. Next we'll be talking about the conflict in Mogadishu. Two to two, Luke, okay? Two to two here. All right?

Nope. So I guess fifth is the swing round. You ever seen Black Hawk Down? No. What? But speaking of swing rounds. You've never seen Black Hawk Down? And you're the guy who did a kick of military movies?

No, it never got in there. Oh, dude. Wait, who's in that one? What's his face? I may have seen it and forgot. First of all, Tom Sizemore plays one of those crusty old fucking military vets. He's just amazing. Can you bring it up?

Josh Hartnett is the guy. Do you want to just pause the fight and do a rewatch on Black Hawk Down right now? Dude, I cannot believe you haven't seen that. Holy shit. Dude, it's going to blow your fucking mind. When they make the run through Bacara Market and Mogadishu, you're gonna shit your pants Do you like that Bradley Cooper war movie when he's like a sniper a sniper that's pretty good dude, all right, it's okay I Like to hurt lock a little bit more that was Jeremy what's his name?

Brenner yeah, god that guy's great Luke He's an artist Luke the scene at the end with the cereal aisle. Oh, it's just yeah. God, that guy's great, Luke. He's an artist, Luke. The scene at the end with the cereal aisle? Oh, yeah. It's just brilliant. Okay, here we go. What these two are getting after. All right, so Max realizes here, I need this round, okay?

There's going to... Yeah, I think that's right. And he's going for it. Leave no stone unturned, right? Wow, Sean Sheehan has it 3-1 Max. You see that? That's interesting. But again, if it's a damage judgment call and they're this close, I can understand that.

I don't see the third round, though, that you give me. Oy, beautiful left hook finish. Oh, and another right hand. All right, I remember scoring round five here for Max. So I had it 3-2 Max in real time. And so far, it's supporting that idea, Luke. Let's see what Volkanovsky comes back with. You can see that marking above his left eye now.

Swelling under. Scrapes above That's damage. We're seeing damage It's a hell of a jab into the clinch Look you got look at the head position from, oh, and a good max. Oh, man. And then a good shot off the break. Dude, his hooks off the break are perfect.

Dude, Bronsted are automatic to get his tweet on the air, dude. They love Bronsted. Everyone loves Bronsted. I mean, what a great guy, yeah. He's like, yeah, they say we should call him LeBron. LeBron. LeBron, because he's from Canada. Yes, LeBron.

Oh, wow, wow, LBJ. Did I just take your idea, or was that my idea? Okay, he's more on my idea. Fuck off, that's a great one. Can the people hear Gaffer? No, they can't hear him. I don't know. All right, three minutes to go in this final round.

Great start from Max. Luke, this is the swing round, okay? Left hand from Alex. Pace has slowed a little bit, or at least I'd say their movement has slowed. Yeah. Relative to the first fight, a little more noticeable, it felt like, in this fifth round. Oh, the timing on that left. Oh, my God.

This is very even now in the foreground. Now you can see why I watched it so many times. Dude, Volkanovski making a run back after that hot start from Max. Oh, some leaping shit. Look at the angle. Max ain't done. That was like a corkscrew punch, Luke. That was wild.

Making each other turn. Yeah, showing him that nutsack. Faking, level changing, turning, angling. Dude, they're both going at it. Look at Max push that pace on him. You know, it's almost as if every strike is swaying the momentum. Oh, the timing. He could have just caught him clean when his timing was moving.

You know what I'm saying, though? Every time someone hits clean, you're like, oh, they're winning the round now. I know. It feels like that. Yeah, good point. And the significant strikes, 20 to 19 this round, Holloway so far. I'm going to say Max is a little bit more hittable this round because I think the damage has slowed him.

Yeah, no, he's also going after it. Yes, that too. But I think his movement has noticeably been affected. Damn, he's open to that jab. I mean, really, that's been a key part of Volkanovski's comeback offense here. Dude, look at the outside of both of his legs. Both of his legs are torched. Yes, and Max stuffing these takedowns nice.

Same takedowns before. Inside trip off the body lock. He's just so nasty with it. That'd be a good trip in a bar fight, right? Yes, because you can control the entire course of the fall. Hey, could you make more noise? That'd be nice. Thank you. Tristan's got a tattoo of a wolf now on his arm.

That means he'll kill you with his bare hands. You know who Tristan is? He's the guy who talks in the quiet car. Oh, yeah. The quiet car, they tell you it's a library-like atmosphere. Here comes Tristan playing, like, fucking, you know, trap music on his phone. Dude, that's another good combo,

that high-low shit Volkanovski does with the inside leg kick and the jab, man. Oof. Max just a little bit. Luke, I don't know. This is a toss-up, this round. This is a great round. Volkanovski really trying to mix it up.

Dude, I get what you saw on multiple rewatches where you start to like Volkanovski stuff a little bit better on rewatch here. It holds up real well upon review is what I would say. That too. Dude, Max's movement was clearly compromised by this round. Again, not in some huge amount, but enough to make Volkanovski's job a little bit easier. Dude, nice takedown defense. I mean, so he got taken down before, but he was pretty much right back up.

I don't know. Dude, Max's offense in the first minute. He just missed a huge jab. No, I saw it. Max's offense in the first minute. You just missed a huge jab. No, I saw it. Max's offense in the first minute was still the best offense I've seen this round, but the question to me is, has Volkanovsky done enough? I don't know, dude. He's popping them up here.

Has he done enough since then? It's been longer and sustained. You know, this might be. You know what? You might say these stall positions are 50-50, but the thing is, it's a strategic issue, right? Because Volkanovsky's the one initiating them. Oh, and then a second time Max ends up on the bottom here. Yeah, dude And so you and so you're understanding you're taking the break on his terms three to two Volkanovski three to two Volkanovski

I think that's the right call and it's close that fifth round is it close, but it's a phenomenal it is Yeah, yeah, seriously. I know it's two absolute grand Masters of chess. It's funny that I scored both fights 3-2 as well. Even though the second one is much more competitive, and obviously you can have a case for Max without question. This is Nadal-Federer, you know what I mean?

Federer, Djokovic, whatever the proper one is. I don't watch enough tennis to know. Nadal-Federer was a fun run while it lasted, all right? Federer was the man, but Nadal is... But Nadal on clay is like that motherfucker. Nadal also introduced Marco Asensio to Real Madrid. You know he's a huge Real Madrid like booster Do you think? Nadal ever had sex on clay just like this just like as like a like you mean like with like a bunch of tens or only one with the fuck you do it 14 times probably God knows the amount of good times. He's had down there. God bless him. He earned it.

Yeah, if anyone earned to have their generals covered in red flags. These striking totals, they show on the graphic. I realize the UFC's doing the best job they can, so is Fight Metric, but these are often inaccurate, and they're sometimes inaccurate in really misleading ways. Not always, but you've got to take these, when they show the strike totals, be like, eh.

Well, even, you know, boxing, which CompuBox family does a great, obviously they're the innovators, are the best at it. It still can really only inform your argument if you're making that argument. You know what I'm saying? It's one of those things. It's like it can help your argument, but you can't really build an entire base around it because it doesn't always tell the story. Yeah. You know, I said Max looked leaner this time.

I'm not. No, you're right. He does. A little maybe. A little. It's not so pronounced. All right. Dan looks a little lean.

So let's look at these scores, BC, and then let's talk about it. I think we both agree rounds one and two for Max. Yes. Rounds three, four, and five for Volkanovski. Your argument is round five is the swing round? It is. Because Max had enough. He had the best work in the first minute. I thought Volkanovski. Your argument is round five is the swing round? It is because Max had enough. He had the best work in the first minute.

I thought Volkanovski did more work overall. So by the end of it, you add in those two takedowns, you know? I mean, the second one was kind of Max tripped himself. Right, but we're getting, okay, so you're going to the grappling only because, well, you would only. No, I'm saying I liked his striking better overall. Max had the bigger moments, I thought. But I liked Alex's striking overall.

And also, he had the two takedowns. Okay, so they're reading the decision now, and we're going to sort of go over this when they finally announce it, and then Volkanovski retains. Okay, so here's how they scored it. Judge Mark Collette, if that's how you pronounce it, scored it exactly as you might imagine we did. 48-47

for Volkanovski, rounds 1 and 2 to Max, 3-4 and 5 to Volkanovski. David Letheby, rounds 1 and 2 to Max, rounds 3 and 4 to Volkanovski, round 5 to Max. So that was the scorecard for Max. And then Clemens, again, I don't know if it's Werner or Werner, he had it like you and I did. By the way, again, a very good judge. Rounds 1 and 2 to Max, rounds 3, 4, and 5 to Volkanovski. Now here's the interesting part, BC. For the first fight, we looked at the media scores. Again,

this is all anecdotal, but it's just sort of worth it as a fun exercise. And we looked at all the scores the first time, and every single one all the way through all the media had it for Volkanovski. It was split this time. Yes, yes. So here is who had it for Volkanovski. Let's see, Tim Burke, Tristan Critchfield, Phil Murphy, Ben Duffy, John Pollock, Rob Tata, Matthew Wells, Drake Riggs. A lot of very smart people in there. They had it 48-47 Volkanovski. The other ones had it for Holloway go as follows. Stephen Kelleher,

Michael DeSantis, Jed Mishu, I'm not going to read all these, but Sean Sheehan was one of them. Steffi Hayes from Bloody Elbow. Let's see who else do I know there. Greg Rosenstein. Yo, fuck Greg Rosenstein. I like Greg. Me and him are DC guys. And then some other folks all the way down the line. But you get the idea.

There was actually more for Holloway than there are for Volkanovski. Talk me through your scoring on round five. Rosie used to be my editor, by the way. So you think the more pronounced moments were which ones in round five? Max in the first minute had more profound, but I think the sustained offensive Volkanovski throughout the round overtakes that, Luke, in my opinion. I'm going to pull up these stats from the second

fight. By the way, striking totals were very interesting for this one, BC. Yes. Max Holloway attempted 134 strikes, or excuse me, landed 134 significant strikes in the first fight, landed only 102. He actually did better work in the sense that he dropped, although one was with a head kick, but it was set up with the hands, and the second one was the uppercut. But it's only 102 he actually did better work in the sense that he dropped although one was with a head kick but it was set up with the hands and the second one was

the uppercut but it's interesting that he actually was able to land less in this fight yet got two clearer rounds in my judgment than he ever did in the first five rounds of their first fight but but dude even if I can also landed less and even if I changed my score meaning in real time I had three two max I've had three two Alex on re Dude, Max deserves a ton of credit for how he changed his game plan completely. Yes, Volkanovski kind of out-hustled him in totality over the last three rounds, but that was a nice stand

in round five for Max at the very least. Luke, it's hard to ever say somebody deserves a third fight. Maybe this second fight isn't as disputed as I thought. What does disputed mean? Disputed doesn't mean robbery. It just means that people were split, right? So yes, this is a disputed decision. Absolutely. And a great fight, by the way. How do you think these two inform what the third fight could look like? I think it goes back to a few things. They're going to look at what worked in

this fight, if you're Max, and then what worked in terms of like, what was Volkanovski able to, you have to really be honest with yourself. What was he able to do that he took things away from you? Like, what was he able to, why was he able to do that? And you have to be honest, because a lot of fighters are like, oh, I should have done this better. Like, the agency is only their own. But you're fighting another pro fighter, like a very good one. They have agency, too.

So you have to think about it on those terms. What did he do to take it away from you? And then what could you add? And we saw from rounds five to round six that team did a phenomenal job but again it goes back to who's going to be able to make those calculations in the middle of the right and they need to have a real answer for that and what's great about the adjustments max did make in the second fight whether we thought he won or lost he also dropped volkanovski twice so he really sort of you know made changes to try to leave no doubt in the rounds that that he did have a chance at winning,

although the fifth round, again, was a flip. But I wonder how much, you know, given that they've changed to a certain degree, you see Volkanovski, that performance against Korean Zombie. Is it fool's gold because of the speed difference, or is this a new Volkanovski who's adding even more and now more offensive intention with his right hand? I could see him establishing those power shots early to try to open up the takedowns. And I think the ground game could be a big part of this third one, Luke, because they're both going to, to a certain degree, going to have to show something new that they haven't

shown before to try to gain an edge in a matchup that has been so close. It's been, you know, move and counter move, move and counter move, you know what I mean? Where it's usually like round at a time or two rounds at a time. Who's going to make that first mark in the third fight? It's going to be interesting. Do you think Volkanovski takes this to the ground? I do wonder how much more of this fight will be fought at least like clinching or clinching on the ground or something like that. I do really wonder about that.

Also, to go back to something you said, one thing that we just disagree on a little bit, I think, is that we've talked about this on the resume review for the folks who've seen it, but I do believe that Volkanovski got better from here to the Ortega, to the Korean zombie fights. But I don't know that he's doing anything really new other than applying his, like, overall skills. I don't think it's a new attitude. I just think that it's, like, two things about Max. He's much harder to beat than Korean zombie. And so I think with Korean zombie, the skill differential just showed itself with them a more aggressive Volkanovski But if there's a skill difference, he's gonna put people away pretty quickly

There's not a huge skill difference between him and Max right the other part about Max is one thing we're thinking about is He's taking a lot of damage, but he's got a legendary chin So you have to wonder if you're Volkanovski Yes You want to tag him with something as clean as you possibly can? But if you're not confident that you can knock him out because the guy is fucking durable, that's also going to inform your judgment about what kind of strategies you pursue at certain times of the fight. So, yes, to your point, you've got to ramp it up, but sometimes you don't.

And if you don't have to, don't. And the more offensive you try to be in terms of landing big right hands, the more you're going to be able to be countered. And Max is a guy who can counter you with some flush combinations and sort of just steal the momentum from those. So, chest at the highest level, do you think this will be the most action? Because the first fight, not an action fight. Second fight, fun pockets of action, but it was still largely, except for the fifth round, I'm going to have my round and have control of it. Then you can have your round.

You know what I mean? Do you think we see two-way action, sustained two-way action for the first time in the series in the third fight? I do think there's a high probability that it will be more action-oriented than the first two. Because, you know, both guys are geniuses. Both guys are going to have plan A, B, and C, and D. But at some point when you've fought somebody so many times, like when you play basketball against the same person all the time,

they know all your moves. It kind of just comes down to your best move, your power move. You go after it. Is this going to devolve perfectly into a beautiful action fight, Luke? I think there's a, you know, it it's so funny the first two were so technical i wonder like do you think there's a case that max might make it ugly like i tried sort of this right now thinking that the uh the you know the wizard here i tried to outsmart maybe just got to make it rough and then you know if you can hurt him that way max's ability to finish. Yeah extraordinary

Let me read these numbers here real quickly if I can BC Significant strikes landed this I'm not saying that these numbers prove the scoring Yeah, what I'm saying is the scoring is reflected in these numbers think of it the other way around First round these are significant strikes each one landed 19 apiece round two 22 for Volkanovski 22 for max Holloway, but we know that there was the more impactful stuff for Max. But here is where the game begins to change. Rounds three, again, 25 for Volkanovski, 15 for Max. Rounds four, 34 for Volkanovski, 24 for Max. And then round five,

37 for Volkanovski, 23 for Max. Max was consistently at around 20 and then slightly above. Volkanovski went from 19 to 37. It's a pretty big jump. That's a pretty big jump. That tells you about how the fight kind of went a little bit. There you go. I can't wait for this third one. Give it to me.

Give it to me right now. History. Do you like it more than the main event for 2017? Future Hall of Famers. Yes, I do. Yes, I do. I do. I mean, I love that title defense for Adesanya against Kananir. I think there's potential for that to be very interesting, but there's history at stake. I want to see,

almost as if this is like a movie series, I want to see in the third installment how Max and Alex might entertain me differently, how they might approach this fight differently, whether it turns into an action fight just because they know each other so well, or it's another epic chess match. Sometimes it's sort of like, I don't care if the fight is boring or fast-paced or whatever. These are two artists, two of the best, and they match up so well. They make fun art. Let's enjoy it. Let's enjoy history together. And maybe the winner is the greatest featherweight of all time. I don't know, Luke, but it's possible. Even just the last thing I'd say is, yes, it's for featherweight contexts and time. I don't know, Luke, but it's possible. Even just the last thing I'd say is yes, it's for featherweight contexts and a lot more

and certainly title fight, but you're just not going to see two guys this good face off against each other this often. It's going to be pretty rare you see something like this in any division. And with all due respect to the champion who has an important fight

in the main event, this is the most division to division, most historically relevant fight on the card and maybe this year. Hopefully you enjoyed going up and down memory lane with us of Volkanovski, Holloway, one and two. Enjoy the third one, UFC 276. We're going to be there. We are. With bells on. That's right. Yeah.

For Luke Thomas, I'm Brian Campbell. And loyal gains, follow us, like us, love us, we love you. This has been Morning Combat. Thank you.