"Holloway is a tremendous, tremendous, elite boxer" - Teddy Atlas praises Max Holloway's boxing ability
Teddy Atlas has given praise for Max Holloway's boxing ability inside of the octagon.
The former UFC featherweight champion Holloway has been considered one of the best boxers in mixed martial arts by several fans and pundits of the sport. He has also landed the most strikes in the history of the world's biggest MMA promotion.
Speaking on the latest edition of The Fight podcast, Atlas insisted that Holloway's strike game is elite. He added that interim UFC bantamweight titleholder Petr Yan was also on a similar level.
"Holloway is a tremendous, tremendous, elite boxer. I mean he does it all. He is very well rounded and he has proved that many times in the octagon. But him and guys like Yan to me, I have said it before and I will say it again, if I walked in a room and there was no graphics up and I was watching a monitor, there was no sign telling you who's who and I saw Holloway or Yan doing his thing striking, I would think I was watching a professional [boxing] fight. I believe that is how good they are at record striking because... you are just watching some good boxing," said Atlas.
Watch Teddy Atlas in conversation with his co-host Ken Rideout below:
'Blessed' holds a 23-6 record in his professional MMA career so far and last fought Yair Rodriguez at UFC Vegas 42 in November last year. He won the encounter via unanimous decision.
Max Holloway could fight for the UFC featherweight championship again before the end of the year
Max Holloway pulled out of his scheduled UFC 272 trilogy main event against current UFC featherweight champ Alexander Volkanovski in March after aggravating a pre-existing injury.
Volkanovski will now take on No.4-ranked 'The Korean Zombie', aka Chan Sung Jung at UFC 273 in April instead. The clash between welterweight contenders Colby Covington and Jorge Masvidal will now headline UFC 272 instead.
Calvin Kattar has now absorbed 1,120 significant strikes in the UFC and has yet to be knocked down.
Max Holloway holds the record with a ridiculous total of 1,812.
However, it is definitely not the end of the road for Max Holloway. 'Blessed' is the No.1 contender in the UFC's 145lb division and is the No.7-ranked fighter in the men's pound-for-pound rankings.
Holloway, who has never been knocked down inside the octagon, could possibly return to full fitness by the third quarter of 2022. He remains in contention for a title shot and will likely face the winner of Alexander Volkanovski vs. Chan Sung Jung next.