They say styles make fights, rarely do they clash as hard as the main event of UFC on ABC: Holloway vs. Kattar. 

Max Holloway is a high volume, high pressure fighter who constantly mixes up his unorthodox offence and is known for being indefatigable: he doesn't get tired, he doesn't weaken and he doesn't get knocked down.

His opponent, Calvin Kattar has the best boxing in featherweight MMA. His connections, be it to the jaw or body, are always precise, his combinations are fluid and he uses a right straight to keep distance, meaning that either he's finding the range or he's inflicting damage.

It isn't just the fighting styles that are polar opposites. Both men came into the fight with similar records – 26 fights for Kattar, 27 for Holloway – but Kattar was on a two fight winning streak that pushed him up to #6 in the division rankings while Holloway, who had already been to the top of the mountain and held the UFC men's featherweight championship for almost three years, lost his last two by decision to Alexander Volkanovski; he lost his belt in the first and failed to win it back by a narrower margin in the second.

There is one area where the two men are similar: they improve as the fights progresses. Kattar is famously a slow starter – it's what cost him in his big main event against Zabit Magomedsharipov in 2019. He seems to come into fights with a basic game plan and then he tweaks it round by round until he has his opponent totally figured out. Holloway, as UFC commentator Daniel Cormier said, is a momentum fighter. He's the only person on the roster to improve in terms of volume and significant strikes as a bout moves on; to put it simply, the better he does, the better he does.

On paper, the advantage was always with Holloway but there was perhaps an expectation that following two important losses to champ Volkanovski, he was beyond his best – and this would confirm his decline. Instead, Holloway learned from his mistakes and also knew he had something to prove to himself, to UFC President Dana White, and to the fans.

Holloway started Round 1 looking like he was already in Round 3. From the very beginning he used Kattar's traditional boxing against him by constantly pressing and switching levels in his quick combinations. Kattar's high guard limited his visibility and also made it difficult to block body shots with the same efficacy as head shots, and his boxing-focused style makes it difficult for him to throw punches while moving backwards.

Having chipped away at Kattar for five minutes, Holloway added power to his arsenal in Round 2. After pushing Kattar to the fence, he sliced his forehead open with sharp elbows that went directly through the middle of the guard. Kattar, wobbling after a head kick, was saved by the bell.

Kattar is built from scrap iron. Even before this fight, his toughness was undisputed. However, according to UFCstats.com, by the end of the second round, he had been badly cut, visibly staggered and on the receiving end of 145 significant strikes without even attempting 100 of his own. He had been totally outclassed and badly hurt.

The rules say that the referee can wave a fight off if a competitor stops "intelligently defending" themselves and Herb Dean remained close to the men waiting for the first sign that Kattar was done. However, Rounds 2 and 3 may be used in the future to change how referees calculate an intelligent defense. Kattar was being swarmed with his back against the fence and, at least once, visibly out on his feet and yet referee Dean didn't stop the fight as he was still swinging with haymakers and elbows. It was entirely on instinct and, to his credit, a few were landing on Holloway's chin.

Even so, he was clearly beaten and the damage taken was unnecessary. In the fifth and final round, Holloway was far enough ahead in terms of points and freshness that he began showboating. Rarely has anybody been less of a threat in the Octagon than Kattar in the dying moments of this main event. From the opening bell, he wasn't in the fight and it only got worse for him from there.

Holloway won by unanimous decision (43-50, 43-50 and 42-50). This is the biggest point differential since Rich Franklin beat David Loiseau at UFC 35 in 2006 – Loiseau never recovered and spent the bulk of his remaining career outside the organization. Holloway is the UFC leader in most significant strikes landed ever and in this fight alone he connected with 445. To put that into perspective, Kattar hit only 133 out of an attempted 283.

Usually losing two back-to-back fights guarantees there won't be a trilogy. Holloway's performance tonight was so blisteringly impressive that a third title bout with Volkanovski will surely be booked before the end of the year.