UFC Fight Night 74: Holloway vs Oliveira

Max Holloway (13-3-0) vs. Charles Oliveira (20-4-0, 1 NC)

Two young fighters who are on nice winning streaks, Max Holloway and Charles Oliveira, face-off for the first time when they meet at Sasktel Centre for UFC Fight Night 74.

Holloway is just 23-years-old, but has been fighting since he was 18 and began his UFC career in February of 2012 and proceeded to lose three of his first six fights. Since then, he has been a perfect 6-0 and has earned “Performance of the Night” twice with one “Knockout of the Night” coming early last year against Will Chope. In that time he had three knockouts, two submissions and one decision, ending one of his fights in the first round and four later on in the third. Holloway is originally from Hawaii and learned kickboxing while going through school, which led to a blue belt in Brazilian jiu-jitsu and a wealth of styles that allowed him to take out opponents in different ways. The 5’11”, 145-pound youngster fights well beyond his years and should not be underestimated. His opponent in this one isn’t too much older at the age of 25 and the Brazilian-born fighter began training in the art of jiu-jitsu in his early teenage years. That work has paid off as 12 of his 20 career victories in MMA have come from submissions, the other eight coming mostly from knockouts (6) with two decisions as well. He has been on a tear over his last four visits to the octagon, winning each one while earning “Performance of the Night” three times as his fight with Hatsu Hioki ended in what was the “Submission of the Year” in 2014. His submissions are varied as well, and in his last three wins with that tactic he has used a triangle choke, anaconda choke and guillotine choke. There will be no lack of energy in this one and it may come down to who can get in a solid strike to take this bout at Fight Night 74.

Holloway is the more aggressive of the two fighters going in this one, and one of the most aggressive in the UFC as he is able to land a blistering 5.64 significant strikes per minute at a solid 41% accuracy. During his most recent six-match winning streak, “Blessed” has been able to out strike his opponents 415-245 and earned his “Performance of the Night” honor in his last time out with 82 strikes landed and three submission attempts before a final guillotine choke to finish it off in the third round. His aggressiveness has opened himself up to some hits as well with the opposition getting in 3.78 significant strikes per minute at a weak 31% accuracy. Despite the occasional victory by submission, Holloway does not get his opponents on the mat too often with just 0.11 takedowns per 15 minutes of fighting as he is successful in half of his attempts. On the other side of things, he is able to defend against the takedown 78% of the time, hitting the mat just once in the past four bouts. He averages a mere 0.5 submission attempts per 15 minutes, but has been making that part of his repertoire with two wins via submissions in his last five fights. Holloway will come out firing when the bell rings and won’t stop until someone takes the win.

Oliveira has a much more technical approach to his fights, but still is able to get in plenty of strikes with 3.29 significant strikes landed per minute at an impressive 50% accuracy. He was a dominant force against Nik Lentz in his last time out, pounding him for 64 strikes compared to 37 taken and added a takedown with two submission attempts; one ending in a guillotine choke and earning “Do Bronx” both “Performance of the Night” and “Fight of the Night” honors. His defense against strikes isn’t too impressive, though, and he allows others to get in 2.93 significant strikes per minute at 46% accuracy. Most of his game is on the mat and that is evidenced by his 2.24 takedowns per 15 minutes at a meager 34% accuracy. Once down, he is getting in 2.8 submission attempts per 15 minutes and he looks to get the win at that point without taking much more of a beating. He and Holloway have different approaches in the octagon and it will be fun to watch if the technical abilities of Oliveira can take out the flurry of strikes coming from of his opponent’s side.