5 reasons why Max Holloway vs. Yair Rodriguez will be Fight of the Year
On November 13, Max Holloway will return to the octagon to face Yair Rodriguez. While Alexander Volkanovski currently holds the featherweight gold, Holloway intends to stay active and take fights until he finds himself once again challenging for the title.
Prior to his upcoming matchup with 'El Pantera', Max Holloway was tasked with facing Alexander Volkanovski in back-to-back title bouts. While he came up short in both razor-close contests, he put in a commanding rebound performance against Calvin Kattar earlier this year. The bout saw 'Blessed' break a significant strikes record that he previously held. Holloway landed 445 significant strikes against his fellow top-five contender.
Meanwhile, Yair Rodriguez will be returning after a long layoff himself when he faces Max Holloway. The clash against 'Blessed' will be the Mexican's first UFC fight since his 2019 rematch against Jeremy Stephens. While Rodriguez has been inactive as of late, his ability inside the octagon is clear. Even so, he's tasked with a hungry and motivated former champion looking to carve out a path back to 145-pound gold.
Rodriguez has a flashy style, though his ability to tone down the extras and focus on fundamentals has come a long way. It will certainly be interesting to see which kicks he chooses to utilize against a crafty boxer like Max Holloway. With the two warriors known for their insanely entertaining styles, this main event fight has the makings of a Fight of the Year candidate.
With that in mind, let's examine five reasons why Max Holloway vs. Yair Rodriguez will end up being 2021's Fight of the Year (FOTY).
#5. The styles of Max Holloway and Yair Rodriguez should make for a great fight
Max Holloway and Yair Rodriguez both have exciting styles. With such dynamic kicking repertoires, shot selection will be an important aspect of this featherweight contest.
Since fighters are often told to 'crowd the kicker' at face value, it would seem Max Holloway would have a stylistic advantage going into this strategic matchup.
After witnessing Yair Rodriguez's performance against Chan Sung Jung, many were surprised to see the 29-year-old make such leaps in his standup skills while being away from the cage for over a year. With the unpredictability of Yair Rodriguez's style, he is never in a boring fight.
Max Holloway, meanwhile, proclaimed himself to be the best boxer in the UFC while looking away from Kattar and still landing a couple of jabs. While his statement may ring true to some, he will need to implement a complete mixed martial arts game to dispatch a dangerous striker like Rodriguez.
Max Holloway will need to implement the same type of aggression he showed in the second fight with Volkanovski. With such a competitive featherweight landscape, a statement performance speaks loudly amongst a division full of killers.