Coach Conversation | UFC 326: Holloway vs Oliveira 2

I love that, and for me, he’s such a treat to watch.

Kyte: I couldn’t agree more. What about for Oliveira?

Madden: For Charles, I think his best trait — and I want to say this in a positive way — but his ability to create chaos and capitalize on chaos in those moments, whether it’s in a striking exchange in mid-range or in a scramble on the ground, he is one of the best in the UFC at that. He thrives off that chaos and intentionally creates chaotic situations.

He’s not afraid of the damage or getting dropped because he’s still an absolute threat off his back, even if he’s rocked. That to me is really impressive. There is so much pressure, so much risk to not lose fights, but Charles is just the epitome of a fighter, with the Chute Boxe style.

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But yeah, it’s the chaos, and the ability to thrive in those situations is really impressive to me. Has he lost fights? Of course, but it’s also gotten him to where he is today as one of the most recognizable people in that division, and I think there is something to be said for that.

Kyte: I need your thoughts on this as a striking coach: as someone on the outside looking in for the last 15 years covering the sport, I think if I were a coach that had a brand new fighter that I’m trying to mold, I don’t think there are too many people on the list of “pattern yourself after this guy” than Max Holloway when it comes to striking styles and knowing how to maximize their offensive weapons.

He feels to me he’s in a very select group where he’s got all the elements you want, even if there isn’t one-punch power. He’s probably in the top five, top three guys in terms of striking in the UFC.

He was out. He was four shots from being done, and went (exhales) and then went out and finished him straight away in the second.

Madden: That’s the perfect example.

Kyte: Is there — if you’re Diego Lima in that corner and you’ve been working with him for so long and he’s started to show a little less ability to thrive in those spots, is there a feeling of “Hey Charles, can we take 10 percent of the chaos away? Can we just get into the grappling a little quicker?”

Madden: (laughs)

Kyte: If you’re in that corner, is there a desire to say, “Can we trade 10-15 percent of the chaos for 10-15 percent more smart grappling, smart entries?” Or does that just screw up the fighter that he is?

Madden: That’s such a smart point, such a good question, and yes, it does screw up the fighter that he is.

That would be my opinion, but for a lot of people that might be a hot take because the goal is not to put our fighters at risk, but when you have someone that has built their identity around that and has his highest level of confidence in those moments, the second you start saying that, the second you start putting something in their brain that says, “Maybe I don’t believe in you as much as I used to,” that seed of doubt exists in their mind too or the trust between fighter and coach can start to change a little.

Path to Victory

Kyte: What the path to victory for each guy here? How does each guy get it done?

Madden: We’ve had so many of these conversations, and I love them. I’ll revisit my old notes, and we always end up in two or three different boxes, and that’s about it, but at the end of the day, fighting is not easy, but it’s simple.

“He’s a grappler; he’s a striker. He needs to cut the cage; he needs to get off the cage.”

Kyte: Yeah, there are not a ton of big, over-the-top elements or boxes that can be ticked.

Madden: This is all fighting comes down to, and the people that try to over-talk it and over-complicate it — fighting is simple, but it’s not easy, and good coaches can distill it down to being simple and say it in as few words as possible and get their athletes to do it.

Kyte: I’m taking “fighting is simple, but it’s not easy” and making that the new opening line of this series because that’s exactly what we’re doing here, is trying to explain the “not easy” parts, while still accepting and acknowledging that at its core, it’s pretty simple.

But the reason we have these conversations, the reason these are important, is because there is nuance in the simplicity and we have to pull those things apart a little for people to maybe understand things a little better.

Kyte: Because Oliveira has to start coming forward in a more direct, urgent manner?

Madden: Yes.

The cage will feel small early, the angles will be tighter, the margins for error are much smaller. (Max) needs to put on his tempo early on, fight Charles in the middle of the cage, and if we get passed that 10-minute mark and Max is there still, I see the margin of this fight getting wider and wider for Max.

Kyte: I agree, and again, it goes to the “simple, but not easy” — I think we’ll know in the first five minutes how this fight is going to play out. If we get through a round, we’re gonna know what the fight is going to look like.

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I think Max has more ways to win — we’ve seen Charles get hurt, we know Max can hurt people. I think there are multiple ways for him to get finishes because he has a great guillotine, he has all the striking tools that he can finish you there, plus he can go out there and win a decision by out-striking him over five rounds.

I think Charles needs to have that chaotic finish — he’s probably not gonna win a decision against Max Holloway — and I think we’re going to know within five minutes if Charles is gonna get a win or not. 

Madden: I agree. And if we want to take it a step further, as a striking coach, we can definitely talk about specific tactics.

I love Max’s jab — he has such a potent jab because of the volume and accuracy of it and it’s something that I would be leaning heavily on in this fight early, to establish that range. Personally — and we can talk about this a little later too — but I’m not kicking as much as he normally does because he’s facing a guy like Charles who can catch kicks and run you to the fence, who can just sit down with it.

Should you still kick? 100 percent because the more weapons you can mix in, the better your jab will be ultimately…

Kyte: But be judicious with it and be selective when it comes to targets.

Madden: Has to be the right timing, has to be the right targets. It’s a left high kick from southpaw that is glancing off the glove and the shoulder, and is not so low that it’s near Charles’ waistline that he can grab it and run Max to the fence.

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I think intercepting elbows are a great option for Max. He loves his elbows and when Charles starts to blitz when Max is closer to the fence, he can use his elbows, but he has to be mindful of getting frames back in so this doesn’t become a clinch exchange along the fence.

And for Charles, he has to cut the cage. I think I tweet this every week: it’s 2026, and we’re still watching title fights where one person cannot cut the cage. That’s where these are coming from (points to grey hairs in beard), is watching people in the UFC who can’t cut the cage is producing grey hairs in my beard; it blows my mind.

Is Charles the best at cutting the cage? No, he does have pressure and if he used throwaway strikes to get Max moving in a certain direction, and then really committed to the attack after that, he can get him to the fence.

Again, we saw in the fight between Ilia and Max: Ilia shot from the black line and was able to put Max on the fence and take him down from there. Charles did the same thing to (Mateusz) Gamrot; it’s just that bulldozer where “I’m gonna run into you until you hit the fence, and I’m gonna take you down from there.”

Madden: Exactly. It’s such an interesting point and it will come into my Coaching Curiosity here in a bit.

One Coaching Curiosity

Kyte: Let’s just get into it.

Madden: It’s the kicking game for both. I think they both have a good kicking, knee game,  and obviously I’m a fan of that as a Muay Thai coach, so I’ll be paying attention to the targets that Max is attacking with his kicks, the technique he’s using to throw his kicks. And on the other side, is Charles gonna attack the calf? Does he have a different technique that is gonna produce a different result? Is he gonna use other kicks, the knees up the center line that he really loves?

His jumping scissor knee as Max gets close to the fence to back him up — either to use that into a clinch entry or to take him down — is really interesting to me, so for both, the kicking game is what I’m most curious about in this one.

Kyte: Is there one particular shot for each guy that you think can be particularly effective?

Madden: I think the knee for Charles can be effective, and not in the way — sometimes people think with a grappler, faking the takedown to get an over-reaction and then kneeing, but man, when people use the jump knee correctly — especially when the opponent is backing into the fence — I really love that as a way to work into takedowns.

Kyte: I’m gonna be a broken record here because it’s always the same for me with these older fighters, these people that have been through wars that we’ve seen knocked out — it’s just how well he’s able to withstand the shots because they’re coming in droves from Max.

Not even just the chin, but even just a general “Where are you at?” He looked so great against Gamrot — no notes — but that’s Gamrot on short notice, a guy that is happy to come out and grapple with you.

Madden: In Brazil…

Kyte: Everything is lined up in your favor. But the last couple guys he’s faced that can crack a little, Ilia got him and Michael Chandler hurt him, and Chandler hasn’t been effective in the UFC, but he dropped Charles.

He’s 36 now and while everyone is going down from those shots from Ilia — that’s not a Charles thing — but we also knew going in that exactly what did happen had a very high percentage chance of happening.

Madden: Charles gets hit a lot — he gets hit a lot — and now you’re going against a guy that doesn’t have one-punch knockout power the same way as some of these other guys, but he’s gonna hit you a lot.

Kyte: He’s got enough power, plus all the technique, and if you give him that opportunity, he can put you down, so are you gonna hold up?