According to the UFC stats, former featherweight champion Max ‘Blessed’ Holloway has never been knocked down throughout the course of his 29 fights in the promotion.
As fans countdown to this weekend’s featherweight title scrap, interim heavyweight champion Tom Aspinall explains how the popular BMF belt holder could be picking himself off the canvas at UFC 308.
Tom Aspinall predicts Ilia Topuria will drop Max Holloway at UFC 308
Breaking down the upcoming UFC 308 main event via the TNT Sports YouTube channel, Tom Aspinall would make the case that champion Ilia Topuria has both the physical attributes and skills to knockdown Max Holloway in a big way.
“So, being a bit of a shorter guy, what he does really well with those shorter arms and with this fight he’s going to look to get inside; the body hooks, the low kicks and the shot in [for the takedown] are what he’s looking for.
“Because he’s got a low center of gravity – it says Max Holloway is 5’11”, he’s at least 6’1” – so with Ilia being the shorter guy, he’ll be looking for the right hands over the top, left hooks to the body and the shot to try and hold him down.”
Topuria rides into UFC 308 having never tasted defeat in the octagon, with four of his seven wins in the UFC ending via KO/TKO – including a vicious knockout of Alexander Volkanovski earlier this year.
“His defensive boxing as well is incredible, he’s got that ‘Philly Shell’ but his chin – and this is something that I need to work on myself – is constantly tucked,” explained Aspinall, showing how Topuria will “throw his shots, and he’ll come out of there behind the shoulder, and then he’ll go back in.”
As the interim heavyweight king demonstrated how ‘El Matador’ controls the distance, he noted how “Max Holloway has a completely contrasting style” when it comes to boxing.
“He’ll have his hands quite low and his chin quite high and the guy will come in with three-four punch combinations, step-in, back-off, back-in… This is the important thing when you talk about the balance and the footwork, can Ilia Topuria get his feet in, in time with such a tall guy like this?”
Whilst Topuria is known for his knockout power, the Georgian-Spanish sensation is also a seasoned grappler, averaging 1.92 takedowns per 15 minutes and retaining a 56% takedown accuracy.
Between the threat of the takedown in combination with the power on the feet, Aspinall predicts that Topuria will be able to score at least one knockdown against Holloway in Abu Dhabi this weekend.
“I think he’s going to keep him guessing with the takedowns, the threat is there and that can affect your defensive boxing because [when] you’re thinking about the takedowns, your hands are low being ready for the shot when punches are coming over the top.
“I think I’m going to go out there and say, Ilia Topuria can put him down – he’s got the power to, and he mixes it up so well between the disciplines; I would not be surprised if Max Holloway got dropped in this fight.”
Max Holloway claims the UFC is wrong about him never being knocked down
Interestingly, Max Holloway disputes the idea that he’s never been knocked down before in his UFC career, even going against the promotion as they continue to market the record.
In conversation with Joe Rogan in April, Holloway would state that Justin Gaethje did drop him during their iconic fight at UFC 300; although the official adjudicators never scored it as a knockdown.
“It didn’t count as a drop, which is crazy. ESPN is like posting it saying in however many fights I’m with the UFC, I didn’t get dropped. I’m like, that’s some bulls*** – get Justin down. I’ll take it, you know what I mean? I wouldn’t be a man sitting here and telling you that I didn’t [get dropped].”
“I was fine – as soon as I got up, it was one of those like, boom, the legs just give out… I was still there even when I was standing, I was looking at ’em… I don’t know how that didn’t count as a drop, I don’t know what they count as a drop. That was crazy.”
UFC 308 goes down this weekend, live from the United Arab Emirates.