UFC 308 marks the 20th UFC event in Abu Dhabi and has kept the fight fans on the edge of their seats with a much-anticipated fight between Ilia Topuria and Max Holloway. With the featherweight championship title on the line, the MMA realm has continued speculating on the result of the headliner fight. And the former UFC star, Chael Sonnen, has yet again talked about the matchup. Needless to say, he picked the BMF champion as his winner. 

But what made ‘The Bad Guy’ choose a 32-year-old over an undefeated 27-year-old featherweight champion? Well, he simply relied on the fighters’ history in the Octagon. 

UFC veteran chooses the winner of the main event of UFC 308 one final time

Taking to his talk show, ‘The American Gangster’ opined, “I’m taking Max. Do you believe that he can knock Max out? That is an incredible belief to have because it’s incredibly difficult to see top guys getting knocked out if you’ve never seen them knocked out before.” 

Sonnen continued, “It sounds like you’ve come to a belief that Ilia is just a much better fighter than Max. When you do talk about championship rounds, you’re talking about something very different with Max. That is a weapon. Does Ilia have that weapon? And if you think so, how do you know that? What is it that you’ve seen?”

Ilia Topuria has fought a 5-minute bout only twice and only once did he go on for all 5 rounds. Whereas, Max Holloway has about 9 five-round battles where he has shown his resilience by going on for the entire 25 minutes. Weighing in on this, Sonnen went on, “If Ilia Topuria is to beat Max, Ilia is probably gonna have to put him down. It is very hard to make believe a scenario where Topuria’s lungs which we’ve never seen in championship rounds are somehow gonna be able to hold up with possibly the greatest championship round athlete that we’ve seen.”

‘The Bad Guy’ had his opinion fixed long before the date of the fight. And there was only one way that he predicted could get Topuria a win over the BMF champion.

The only way for Ilia Topuria to defeat Max Holloway as per ex-UFC star

Taking to his YouTube talk show back on 14th October, Sonnen weighed in on the ‘El Matador’s chances of winning at UFC 308. And of course, it all came back to the fighters’ gas tanks. The fighting community had already witnessed how big Holloway’s tank was in his previous championship rounds. 

‘The Bad Guy’ said, “So what will happen if Ilia Topuria knocks out Max Holloway, which, btw the way, I think is the only way he’s going to beat him… I think one of these guys has got to stop the other one because of that heart and that grit that ‘I’m coming after you. I’m gonna keep on trying to win’, I don’t think that a switch that gets flipped.” 

Nevertheless, the fighting community is destined to witness one of the most hyped-up and competitive clashes of all time. After all, it’s a fight between two of the best featherweights that the world has ever seen. What are your predictions regarding the main event of UFC 308? Let us know what you think in the comments down below.