UFC 300: Justin Gaethje’s Biggest Issue Against Max Holloway Exposed

Justin Gaethje is all set to defend his BMF title against Max Holloway at UFC 300. The former Interim Lightweight Champion is fresh off a victory against Dustin Poirier at UFC 291. However, he must be at his best to come out on top against Max Holloway. ‘Blessed’ is one of the most conditioned athletes in the UFC and also has great striking abilities.

Former UFC fighter Chael Sonnen took to his YouTube channel to analyze the fight. The 46-year-old pointed out some major flaws in Gaethje’s game which might give an upper hand to Holloway. Let us find out what he had to say.

Chael Sonnen comes up with a detailed analysis of Justin Gaethje’s disadvantage

Max Holloway and Justin Gaethje are two of the hardest punchers in the lightweight division. The pair is fresh off a victory in their last fights via knockout. While Gaethje defeated Poirier, Holloway walked past Chan Sung Jung in his last outing.

With both fighters evenly balanced in their fighting style, it is difficult to pick a clear cut favorite. While many believe that Gaethje holds a slight advantage against ‘ Blessed’ in their fight at UFC 300, former UFC fighter Chael Sonnen gave a detailed analysis of some of his weaknesses during his recent YouTube video.

The 46-year-old said, “But it was a very interesting point that Henry’s trying to make. Which is Henry believes that Justin Gaethje can outscore can out damage Max Holloway. Do you agree with that? Justin doesn’t have the reach. He doesn’t have the speed. He doesn’t have the combinations though very close. Justin does have more lower body attacks. He does have more significant strikes below the belt. But generally you need the reach to have those be effective. It’s a talking point. It’s worth considering.”

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Gaethje won the ‘BMF’ title when he defeated Dustin Poirier at UFC 292. However, it seems that the 35-year-old will have to bring out his absolute best against the ‘Blessed’ when they take the center stage. Like Sonnen, former UFC referee Big John McCarthy also pointed out a major difference between both fighters, which might affect the fight.

Former UFC referee reveals Max Holloway is bigger than Justin Gaethje in terms of size

Big John McCarthy and Josh ‘ The Punk’ Thomson recently sat down for a chat in their podcast. The pair analyzed the upcoming battle at UFC 300 and shared their opinion on the same. Many experts have started to predict the fight and most of them feel Gaethje might just have an upper hand in the fight.

However, former UFC referee Big John McCarthy pointed out a major advantage which might help Holloway dominate the battle. Initially Thomson raised a question to the former referee and asked, “Did you see the two of them face off? Gaethje and Max? Max looks bigger than him.”

In response to this, McCarthy revealed an instance and said, “All I can remember about you know when being there with Max. First of all, Max is such a nice human being, you know. But the night that he beat Jose Aldo to win the title, he was 178 pounds that night after weighing in at 145. And I was like, ‘how did you put that much weight back on?’ And how are you gonna compete putting that much weight? No problem for him so.” 

Nonetheless, this is not the first time ‘Blessed’ is fighting at a higher weight class. His previous outing at the lightweight division ended up in a loss against Dustin Poirier at UFC 236. Will he be able to come out on top this time round? Let us know in the comments below.

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