Dustin Poirier knows a fair bit about Max Holloway’s game. After all, he is in the rare company of people who have beaten ‘Blessed’, not only in their interim lightweight title clash in 2019 but also at featherweight more than a decade ago. As Holloway gets ready to fight Ilia Topuria at the top of UFC 308 this weekend, Poirier weighed in with his two cents on the bout.

Speaking to Mike Bohn on YouTube, ‘Diamond’ broke down Holloway’s high-volume, pressure style of fighting and called it exceptionally effective. And that brought him to a very important question.

“Max isn’t, even though he knocked Gaethje out with that one shot, [he] isn’t the biggest puncher, we don’t see him sitting guys down every fight. It’s usually accuracy, timing, and volume. Will Ilia be able to keep that tempo for five rounds? Because Max is a hard guy to put away. Ilia has the power to do it but we’ve never seen it done to Max, and he’s fought everybody- the biggest punchers you know in the UFC at those weight classes,” Poirier said.

Topuria, of course, has vowed to knockout Holloway early. But if he couldn’t, Poirier felt that Topuria’s gas tank would be put to the test in the championship rounds. Holloway, of course, has shown he is more than capable of sustaining his cardio for five rounds. ‘The Diamond’ also touched upon ‘El Matador’ and raised his concerns regarding Topuria’s gas tank.

“It’s just, my bigger question is Ilia’s cardio. When it comes to that much volume over five rounds, because he’s a guy who sits down in the pocket and puts guys away. If he can’t put away Max and he’s getting off the stool third, fourth, and fifth round and Max is
bouncing, ready to come out to answer the bell every round, will that wear on him?”  he added.

Holloway, of course, has a granite chin that has never failed him so far to go with his world-class striking. Not to mention he has a reach and height advantage over Topuria, which will translate exceptionally with his out-boxing style, which is the very opposite of Topuria’s game plan. But there is another skill that Topuria has that could take the striking out of the picture completely.

Ilia Topuria’s wrestling is probably the biggest threat to Holloway

Poirier continued, pointing out that although Topuria defeated arguably the greatest featherweight the sport has ever seen in Alexander Volkanovski, Topuria’s gas tank and endurance weren’t really tested in that fight. But that probably will not be the case with Holloway, who has been in his fair share of five-round outings and will probably look to piece up ‘El Matador’ from a distance.

“I’m not sure but this is like obviously he beat Alexander Volkanovski, who’s one of the best featherweights ever, the former champ, this is a big test. If he goes in there and beats Max or lasts with Max in the volume game, out points him, out fights him technically on the feet, dude that’s going to say so much about Ilia and, you know, where he’s going to go,” Poirier said.

But if Topuria could indeed go in and beat Holloway while going the distance, that would prove once and for all that he is a special fighter who can not only knock out a Volkanovski in a firefight but also go on for 25 minutes with a veteran like Holloway. And that, according to ‘Diamond’ means the sky is the limit for ‘El Matador’,

But what Poirier is perhaps forgetting is that Topuria has an ace up his sleeve- his excellent ground game. It may be that the BJJ black belt wouldn’t need to go the entirety of the five rounds with Holloway on the feet where the latter is strongest. Instead, he could just take down ‘Blessed’ (as he has promised to do) and try to maul, or at the very least, tire him there. But first ‘El Matador’ will have to take Holloway down, which is a very difficult task. Especially for someone who is primarily a striker like Topuria. What do you think about Dustin Poirier’s thoughts on Topuria-Holloway?