Max Holloway showed off his high-level striking skills and willingness to ‘just scrap’ against Ricardo Lamas tonight at UFC 199 en-route to a unanimous decision victory.
Round One:
Both men circling to start. Lamas with a couple of leg kicks. Another one, keeping them low. Two nice left hooks from Holloway and then a right behind them.
Lamas with a side kick attempt to the body. He comes up just short with an uppercut and a head kick.
Nice right hook for Holloway. Good straight left for Holloway and then upstairs with a head kick. Lamas lands a punch, but Holloway finds a counter too.
Holloway taking charge in the center of the cage with Lamas with his back to the cage. Holloway with a flurry of punches that forces Lamas to cover up. Things looked bad for Lamas there as Holloway worked to the head and body, but he survives for now.
Lamas barrels into a takedown, but Holloway stuffs it and ends up on top. They stand back up. Lamas with a spinning high kick that glances on his opponent’s shoulder. Leaping low kick for Holloway.
Lamas goes in on a single leg takedown and is really working hard for this, but for now Holloway is defending well against the cage. Lamas tries to rip him down, but Holloways escapes.
Leg kick for Lamas. Holloway goes in with strikes, but a few miss and then Lamas counters with a few punches of his own that do find the target. However, Holloway then fires off a head kick.
Round Two:
Oblique kick for Lamas. Tries to go upstairs with a kick, but it’s blocked. Misses with a spinning head kick. Holloway with an oblique kick now.
Another kick for Lamas. Leg kick for Holloway. He unleashes a short flurry in close, while Lamas responds with an uppercut.
Holloway loads up on a big right hand, then a short flurry behind it. Now a leg kick.
Holloway with a right hook. Lamas with a punch of his own. Glancing left hook for Holloway seemed to hurt Lamas a little. Then Holloway starts to unleash with big strikes and rocks Lamas.
Holloway teeing off, but Lamas returns fire and clocks him. Holloway continues to throw caution to the wind in pursuit of a finish and again eats a punch that hurts him. Lamas trying for the takedown, but Holloway ends up on top.
Back up to the feet they go. The action continues at a high pace as they go back to exchanging again, with Holloway getting the better of it.
Lamas trying to go in for a takedown again, but Holloway gets a guillotine. He cranks on it and tries to finish his opponent, but Lamas is able to survive and get to the end of the round.
Round Three:
Lamas with a one-two as he charges forward. Holloway with an oblique kick. Capoera kick for Lamas. Holloway with a punch. He lands a clean jab. Lamas tries upstairs with a kick.
Lamas to the body then upstairs. Spinning head kick attempt for Lamas, but Holloway moves out of reach. Lamas with a leg kick. Holloway presses forward and lands with the right hand.
Now a left hand for Holloway. He works another combo. A few solid kicks land for Lamas now. Lamas moving forward aggressively and settles for landing a hard leg kick. Holloway clinches and presses him up against the cage, but only for a moment.
Kick for Lamas. Now punches. Holloway back to his punches and then tries upstairs with the kick. Lamas clinches and forces Holloway to the cage.
Holloway moves away. Nice straight punches for him. Connects with the right again. Exchange in close and Holloway lands a nice right hook.
Oblique kick for Lamas. Holloway charges forward with his latest hard-hitting combo and lands a few solid shots in there.
Final 30 seconds tnow and Holloway picks his punches in the center of the cage.
Holloway points to the middle of the Octagon forcefully as a signal to Lamas to go toe-to-toe with him, for the remaining seconds, and that’s exactly what they do, slugging bombs at each other at close range, with one blow staggering ‘Blessed’ back slightly, before he moves forward again and lands one final huge hook that hurts his opponent to end the round.
Decision:
Great fight and an excellent display of striking from Holloway who rightly wins by unanimous decision (30-27 x3) and takes his impressive winning streak in the UFC to nine fights.
