Morphing the best traits of one’s favorite fighters to create an invincible god of war is about as subjective as it sounds and has normally been left to fans that reason. So, when Max Holloway chose to indulge the fanboy in himself to give it a shot, he probably should have expected some fallout.
Holloway picked former welterweight great Georges St-Pierre for his takedown techniques. To complement, he chose PFL heavyweight champion Francis Ngannou’s power.
The Hawaiian native picked bantamweight champion Merab Dvalishvili for his unending cardio, while UFC heavyweight champion Jon Jones’ defensive technique took the cake. For celebrations, he chose the very flamboyant GOAT contender Demetrious Johnson.
So far, so good, right? Unfortunately, Holloway broke the cardinal rule of playing the game- unless you’re on a winning streak, don’t pick yourself. In his own words, “You have to go with the best boxer in the UFC, so…“. As expected, fans weren’t particularly keen on the self-love.
“Picking himself for boxing after we knocked him out cold is NASTY WORK”, responded a Twitter user, reminding others that Holloway had been outboxed by featherweight champion Ilia Topuria at UFC 308 last year.
“Can’t say your boxing, champ when you literally went unconscious via boxing“, joked another. This UFC viewer simply accused Holloway of not being over his UFC loss and chimed in with, “Max will always be salty towards Ilia“.
Max will always be salty towards Ilia
— Lakerfan (@714Lakerfan) April 19, 2025
In defense of the devil, Holloway’s boxing has historically been held in high regard.
Whether it was because of his technique, his aggressive approach to fighting, or showboating, like when he tried to teach Brian Ortega the art of keeping his hands up at UFC 231 back in 2018, remains subject to debate.
His reputation as a skilled boxer also gained a boost after he secured a last-second knockout against Justin Gaethje at UFC 300 to win the BMF belt.
He would also live up to the reputation, at for a while against Topuria, but the Spaniard just seemed to be a few notches above the volume puncher.
And if this fan is to be believed, Topuria wasn’t the only one who did the job. “Lol, he got outboxed by Ilia, Volk & Dustin”, he reminded.
Another point of contention from the video was apparently picking Jones for takedown defense.
Jones catches strays courtesy of Holloway mention
“This was so perfect then this man said “Defence: Jon Jones.” laughed a fan. “Good chin, terrible defence and positioning,” argued another.
Notably, Jones’ ground game has proven to be rather reliable despite his sketchy technique. As Jones’ former opponent Daniel Cormier put it earlier this year, octagon wrestling is simply a different ball game compared to its amateur counterpart.
Responding to Nickal’s comments about being a negative nelly, DC dove into his wealth of experience from having lived the best of both worlds.
A former Olympian and a UFC double champion, Cormier said, “In theory, when you’re the better wrestler, you expect to be able to control the wrestling. In reality, it’s not as clear a line to define as one would think.”
Cormier explained that as an Olympian, he would have outwrestled any fighter on the mat. “I would’ve beaten Jon Jones 10-0. I would’ve beaten Alexander Gustafsson 10-0, no problem,” he said, while drawing a contrast with reality.
“Yet, they both took me down”, he continued.
DC then elaborated on the importance of clinch wrestling and positioning, while learning the art of grappling along the cage and the ability to defend takedowns against it.
Over his 17-year-long UFC career, Jones has proven to be a maestro at this – a 28-1-0 pro-MMA career record being testament to it. So perhaps, fans were being too harsh on Holloway’s pick.
