Ilia Topuria and Max Holloway are finally going to fight for the bantamweight title, the champion himself confirmed a few hours ago. Ahead of the fight, fans have already started making their predictions for the winner. However, for former champion Alexander Volkanovski, who has faced both men, his pick for the winner is a pretty simple one.
Volkanovski appeared in Michael Bisping’s latest video posted on YouTube, where ‘The Count’ asked Volkanovski to make his pick between Holloway and Topuria.
The former champion simply stated that his opinion is already public and if he were a betting man, it was the BMF champion he would put his money on. Stating that Holloway had an elite chin and if the Spaniard was only banking on raw power, it was going t be insanely hard against someone like the BMF champion.
“I’d pick Max to win and that is no disrespect to Ilia, he’s a great fighter, dangerous guy and obviously a powerful puncher. But we know Max’s chin is quite the elite chin.”
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But at the same time, Holloway can not bank on his chin alone o win the fight. Volkanovski was also considered to have an iron chin and has now been knocked out in his last two fights.
Therefore, both men will have to assess their game plan thoroughly before stepping into the octagon.
A closer look at Max Holloway vs Topuria
Going into the fight, the common consensus is that Holloway is the volume striker whereas Topuria is the power puncher. Therefore, it is worth noting that as the fight goes on, Holloway will become more active and Topuria’s power will fade away. The former champion has a four inch advantage in height but the two men are all square when it reach.
In his most recent outing, Holloway displayed an extremely evolved version of his game. Not only did he absorb minimal damage from Gaethje but also knocked him out in the end. If the same version of Holloway shows up, Topuria will be in for a long night. Defence in this fight will play a key role. If Topuria is able to land a punch clean early on, it might be game over for Holloway as it was for Volkanovski.
But then again, that has been said for many a fighter who have stepped into the octagon with the Hawaiian!
