Holloway vs. Lamas

This is the official discussion thread for Holloway vs. Lamas. Let's see what you've got.

Nice fight. 199 looks good.

Just about to post this, gotta agree on the prediction too.

KEEPING THIS PICKING STREAK ALIVE!!!

TEAM HOLLOWAY!

Well, I am 0.7% smarter than you, so...

Only on Tuesday my good friend.

It will be really interesting to see how the outcome of this fight, the outcome of Aldo Edgar 2, and Conor's ****storm affect the division.

@HDMex Well, I guess I know who I'm picking... 

It's always Team Holloway round these parts.



Speaking of him, him and his cousin started a gaming channel on youtube recently.

I'm a huge Max Holloway fan, and I have been since I saw his very first UFC fight against Dustin Poirier. At the time, Dustin Poirier was the next big thing in the FW when as a relative newcomer, he beat Josh Grispi when Grispi was the number 1 contender for Jose Aldo's belt (yes, I can't believe I'm actually typing this out but I swear to God it's true).

I forgot who Poirier was supposed to fight, but there was a last minute replacement and they decided to put some 4-0 kid with no hype behind him in as a squash match to boost Poirier's stock. So when the fight went down the way it did, needless to say that I was shocked. Holloway's performance was so impressive to me that I was convinced that he'd be a champion one day (I wasn't convinced he'd be able to beat Aldo, but definitely the next guy; at the time, Jose Aldo to me was the most unbeatable fighter in the world). I had only started watching MMA closely about 6 months prior so Max Holloway was really the first fighter whose career I've seen flesh out before my eyes.


I believe that a win against Ricardo Lamas will be the completion of his evolution as a fighter, but I think it will also be his toughest test to date. Holloway's striking is and has always been on another level from day one, but his biggest question mark has always been his grappling, and it's his grappling that's responsible for his first two losses (and it played a role in the last round of the fight against McGregor).

Against Dustin Poirier, Holloway showed very impressive takedown defense before being slammed, instantly mounted and then submitted. I am still convinced that Holloway beat Bermudez in their fight, and that fight featured Holloway stuffing multiple shots before gassing out in the third. Holloway showcased a very active guard in that fight and that was proof of his commitment to bettering his biggest weakness, grappling off of his back.

Ricardo Lamas is a better grappler than both of those guys but in my eyes, Lamas' biggest weakness is his fight IQ. If Lamas shows up mentally, Holloway will have arguably the biggest test of his career at UFC 199. Let's hope that he passes this one with flying colors.

I'm starting to think Holloway is just easy to pick ;)


Though I maintain I'm 11-1 on picking him because I believe he beat Dennis Bermudez. Which also answers some questions about his grappling @anik, Dennis, who's a very good grappler had a hard time with Holloway's TDD, he did eventually gets some, but had a hard time keeping him down. Conor out-wrestling him I think says more about Conor's offensive grappling than anything else and Poirier outgrappling him I can easily attribute to age, debut, experience and 11 days notice.

I agree that it's hard to ignore the fact that the 3 losses on his record were in fact won by grappling (though Conor was also beating him standing while he still had two whole ACLs), but I don't think it'll be as much of a factor in this fight. I don't think Lamas will try to grapple as much since he fancies himself a top-notch striker (when he eventually does, I believe it'll be desperation shots after Holloway embarrasses him on the feet). 

Good history of picks there.

max is clearly the favorite, but lamas is probably the best guy he's fought outside of conor so idk if he'll find a finish.

SURPRISE: Lamas was never really all that good. :P

Hawaiian Max Holloway by accumulation of damage

Fight of the night, close maybe split decision and Holloway gets the nod.