With just a few hours to go, the global MMA community is decidedly split on who they think will win the UFC 308 main event title showdown between Ilia ‘El Matador’ Topuria and former champion Max ‘Blessed’ Holloway.
Many are now turning to their former opponents in the hopes of finding a crucial nugget of information; with former lightweight king Dustin ‘The Diamond’ Poirier not only offering his prediction for UFC 308 but disputing one of the event’s key taglines.
Dustin Poirier disputes claim that ‘Blessed’ has never been knocked down
Throughout the course of the UFC 308 marketing and in relation to Max Holloway’s insane durability, it’s been repeatedly promoted that ‘Blessed’ has never been knocked down in his 29-fight career in the promotion.
Whilst that is indeed a fabulous record to hold and one that serves to hype up tonight’s title fight, that isn’t to say that everyone is content with the claim that Holloway has never been dropped.
In fact, fan-favorite former champion Dustin Poirier recently sat down with Din Thomas to relive his UFC 236 title fight against Holloway; and argued that ‘Blessed’ did hit the deck after he landed a flurry of shots at the end of the second round.
“That’s a knockdown; that’s a knockdown right there,” Poirier excitedly let out as they watched on, claiming that the fence acted as a “safety net,” to stop Holloway from going down fully.
“They didn’t call it as a knockdown; I’d have been the first guy to sit him down.”
Interestingly, Holloway himself also disputes the claim that he’s never been knocked down before – albeit, not during his rematch with Poirier, but during his iconic clash with Justin Gaethje at UFC 300.
“It didn’t count as a drop, which is crazy,” Holloway stated on a previous appearance on the Joe Rogan Podcast: “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.”
According to the UFC stats, neither knockdowns against Poirier nor Gaethje were counted.
Dustin Poirier offers his prediction for UFC 308: Topuria vs Holloway title showdown
Given how he’s faced Holloway twice in the octagon, Dustin Poirier knows the dangers that ‘Blessed’ can offer in the standup better than most.
“I would never bet against Max and if I was betting, I would bet Max Holloway,” claimed Poirier during his segment on SportsCenter earlier this week.
“Especially at plus money as the underdog, he’s the former champ and I think he gets his belt back… [Ilia] Topuria is the world champion, a very dangerous striker and a big puncher himself, but to put Max Holloway is going to be tough – to knock him out is going to be a big task.
“I think Max is going to win a decision,” predicted ‘The Diamond’, who’s in alignment with around 41% of the Tapology Community Picks on this one.
“Topuria is a tough man himself, but I think Max is going to win via decision.”
UFC 308: Topuria vs Holloway goes down tonight, live from the UAE.