UFC featherweight, Dustin Poirier, has already seen two potential opponents for UFC 143 scratched due to injury, with Erik Koch and then Ricardo Lamas dropping out. He now hopes the third time will be the charm as the UFC has signed Hawaiian featherweight, Max Holloway to face Poirier on the February card. MMA Weekly has the report:
Sources close to the match-up confirmed to MMAWeekly.com that verbal agreements are in place for the match-up with bout agreements to follow.
Holloway should be familiar to BloodyElbow.com readers, as he was the #7 featherweight prospect on our 2012 World MMA Scouting Report. Leland Roling compared the aggressive Hawaiian’s style to Anthony Pettis, as Holloway incorporates a wide array of flying and spinning kicks, knees and elbows into his striking game. This could prove to be an interesting stylistic match-up against the similarly aggressive, but slightly more standard kickboxing of Poirier, although with Poirier’s slick ground skills thrown in as well, Holloway would be wise to try to keep this one standing. Poirier will also have an experience edge here, but Holloway’s been in there with some of Hawaii’s more experienced veterans like Harris Sarmiento and Bryson Kamaka, and came away victorious both times.
Max Holloway (4-0)
W Eddie Rincon (decision) – UIC 4
W Harris Sarmiento (split decision) – X1 Champions 3
W Bryson Kamaka (KO) – X1 Island Pride
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