Max Holloway became the first fighter in the UFC to land over 3,000 career strikes within the promotion, as he faced Yair Rodríguez in an all-out war for 25 minutes.
The battle earned both fighters a $50,000 bonus for receiving Fight of the Night. Rodríguez was wearing most of the damage in the early stages of the fight, but both fighters dished out lethal combinations and heavy strikes for the better part of the first 3 rounds. In the grappling department, however, it was Holloway who held the clear advantage.
Anytime the fight went to the ground, Max found his way into top position. In round 3, Holloway passed Rodríguez guard and came into full mount, working on an Arm Triangle choke and landing some vicious ground and pound that caused Rodriguez to give up his back. Holloway transitioned between submission attacks and ground and pound as the two moved back and forth between full mount and back mount. Rodríguez took a lot of damage on the ground, but then got back up and landed some powerful strikes before securing his own takedown and briefly coming into top position, but Max was quick to get back to his feet. The round ended with Holloway back in top position.
Neither fighter slowed down in the championship rounds, but Holloway found a strategy in his grappling in order to lead the dance. Just over a minute underway into round 4, Holloway snagged a standing guillotine and brought Rodríguez to the ground, again coming on top and passing the guard. Rodríguez seemed to have no answer as Max displayed his grappling work.
The fight ended with a Unanimous Decision victory for Holloway. Holloway landed 251 total strikes compared to Rodríguez’ 186. Max also scored 3 takedowns to Rodríguez’ 1. Holloway’s guillotine choke was the sole submission attempt of the fight.
Nothing but respect from @BlessedMMA to @PanteraUFC
— UFC (@ufc) November 13, 2021#UFCVegas42 pic.twitter.com/rtvTIndum5
Other performance bonuses of the night went to Khaos Williams and Andrea Lee.
Khaos Eilliams survived a kneebar attempt from Miguel Baeza and landed a big punch in the 3rd round to earn his 7th career knockout victory.
THIS KNOCKOUT
— UFC (@ufc) November 13, 2021
[ @KhaosOXWilliams | #UFCVegas42 | Main Card is LIVE on @ESPNPlus ] pic.twitter.com/SHN58XIv2f
Andrea Lee earned her bonus after defeating Cynthia Calvillo by TKO. Lee’s relentless pace and vicious striking caused a corner stoppage after the second round due to the swelling around Calvillo’s eye.
KGB Lee gets the TKO victory after 2 RDs of high-octane action
— UFC (@ufc) November 13, 2021
[ @AndreaKGBLee | #UFCVegas42 | Prelims are LIVE on @ESPNPlus ] pic.twitter.com/yiyInlIrbm
// MAIN CARD //
Max Holloway def. Yair Rodríguez via Unanimous Decision
Marcos Rogério de Lima def. Ben Rothwell via TKO
Felicia Spencer def. Leah Letson via TKO
Khaos Williams def. Miguel Baeza via TKO
Song Yadong def. Julio Arce via TKO
// PRELIMS //
Joel Álvarez def. Thiago Moisés via TKO
Andrea Lee def. Cynthia Calvillo via TKO
Sean Woodson def. Collin Anglin via TKO
Cortney Casey def. Liana Jojua via Unanimous Decision
Rafael Alves def. Marc Diakiese via Submission(Guillotine)
Da Un Jung def. Kennedy Nzechukwu via KO
The post UFC Holloway vs. Rodríguez: Daddest Man On The Planet Becomes First UFC Fighter In The 3,000 Strike Club appeared first on Jiu-Jitsu Times.