Max Holloway seems to have lost his reach as Luke Thomas found a strange anomaly. According to the journalist, ‘Blessed’ lost an entire inch of reach over three years.
Thomas did some detective work as he was looking through past 'Tale of the Tape' screens from various Holloway fights. He discovered that the former UFC featherweight champion's arms had “shrunk” over time. He posted a tweet with three various 'Tale of the Tape' shots attached to it:
“According to the tale of the tape, Max Holloway's arms have shrunk over time”
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The 'shrinking' process began at UFC 143 on February 4, 2012. It is shown that 'Blessed' has a reach of 70 inches. Holloway was submitted by Dustin Poirier via triangle armbar in the very first round.
The next 'Tale of the Tape' shows the stats of the Hawaiian and Conor McGregor for their showdown at UFC Fight Night: Shogun vs. Sonnen, on August 17, 2013. The Irishman won via decision. Apparently, Holloway entered the cage with a reach 0.5 inches shorter than what it was against Poirier.
The third and final 'Tale of the Tape' is from when Holloway took on Cub Swanson at UFC on Fox: Machida vs. Rockhold, on April 18, 2005. He was able to submit Swanson in the third round with a guillotine choke, but with 69 inches of reach this time.
Max Holloway responded to Thomas’ discovery:
"After you watch those fights 40 times Imk how long my arms are boss."
Alexander Volkanovski believes that he will be GOAT after defeating Max Holloway at UFC 276
The current UFC featherweight champion has already defeated Holloway on two different occasions. Their first encounter took place at UFC 245 where Alexander Volkanovski ended the Hawaiian's reign as the kingpin of the division. The Aussie was awarded a unanimous decision victory.
The second meeting occurred at UFC 251 and ended with another Volkanovski victory, but this time, it was a split decision.
Now, in a lead up to their third clash at UFC 276, ‘The Great’ admitted in a recent interview that the trilogy win over ‘Blessed’ will be enough to consider him a GOAT.
Alexander Volkanovski said during his appearance on The MMA Hour:
“I beat him three times in his prime ... how do I not take that GOAT status? This is what’s good about this fight. You and everyone are going to say that I’m the GOAT, I’m the pound-for-pound No. 1. Look at what position this one will put me in, because look at what position he’s in and he’s gone on a tear as well with wins himself, so this certainly makes this fight better and only puts me in a better position if I get another win over him right now.”
Watch Alexander Volkanovski talk about his GOAT status in the video below: