Abu Dhabi in the Arab Emirates hosts this week’s UFC 308 event where a full crowd, a large 30’ octagon and twenty-eight elite athletes are scheduled to compete for pride, evolution toward a top ten ranking and championship belts.
Of the fourteen featured fights nine fights take place from welterweight (170lbs.) to heavyweight (265lbs.) so fight fans will not only see highly ranked athletes competing but they’ll see large, agile, ultra dangerous ones compete at that!
Last week Anthony ‘Fluffy’ Hernandez displayed that “it’s not the size of the dog in the fight rather the size of fight in the dog” as he systematically broke down the hulking Brazilian striker Michel Pereira and finished him in the fifth round. That victory pushed this column’s profitability to 24-21 +8.65u to date.
Ilia Topuria -235 Champion vs. Max Holloway +195 Featherweight (145lbs.) title
For the last several years, Max Holloway or Alexander Volkanovski have Championed the featherweight division. Volkanovski was an unfortunate yet guilty party to rushing back for a title defense some months ago to defend it against Topuria and the German born athlete fighting out of Spain KO’d the Aussie for committing the error.
Since that fight in February of this year Topuria has taken every parade route available to celebrate his title while throwing barbs at fellow featherweights he proclaims to be unworthy of facing him.
One of those happens to be former featherweight champion Max Holloway, Topuria’s opponent Saturday. Max is convinced that Topuria’s been ducking him with the help of the UFC and to be honest I believe there’s some truth to the accusation.
Topuria is a most electrifying champion who holds deft boxing ability and footwork, he has power emitting from every appendage. He is twenty-seven, a black belt in BJJ and was also raised with a stout Grego Roman wrestling base at an incredibly early age. It’s this facet to Topuria’s fight arsenal that provides him with the unfailing confidence that no matter where a fight goes, he’ll hold advantage.
Violent tools, youthful confidence, and tremendous belief/momentum Topuria totes into this tussle with an all-time great.
Max Holloway is thirty-two but has been competing against the top five of this division for years. Besides competing against the elite, Holloway, a brown belt in BJJ himself, brings four inches of height advantage into this fight which will provide him with a substantial edge provided Holloway can keep the fight standing and at distance.
Once the fight begins Max will use his footwork to maintain distance and apply a steady dose of volume combination striking/kicking onto the incoming attacker ‘El Matador’ who will be the forward charging, raging bull in this fight Saturday despite his nickname.
Topuria will trust the plan of attack most effective against Holloway which was perfected by Volkanovski’s approach to be the Hawaiian.
A steady dose of forward pressure striking, deft head movement and evasion of strikes and takedowns strategically implemented to keep the taller Holloway guessing.
Topuria camp understands that Holloway has never been finished and they’ll surely be looking to change that narrative.
Holloway for his part must be a businessperson in the cage and his attack must appear much more clinical in nature. He must ensure he maintains a calm demeanor for any pointing to the mat and toe-to-toe throwdown offers will not produce a favorable outcome against this younger, quicker, more profusely powerful Topuria.
This fight has every indication of being one of the most action-packed fights of the year and I’ll have more to say about it as the week wears on.
Total in this fight: 4.5 Round Under -125
Kamzat Chimaev -250 vs. Robert Whittaker +210 Middleweight (185lbs) co main event
Chimaev is a Russian with a brown belt in BJJ and considerable wrestling prowess who fights out of Sweden. He hit the UFC like a lightning bolt a few years back, winning fights in devastating fashion between two weight classes, welterweight, and middleweight.
He’s aggressive and overwhelming early in fights and while he has shown immense potential early in his UFC career, his recent past has been marred by health issues and a lack of legitimate competition in the middleweight division.
Chimaev’s two middleweight wins were against one Gerald Meerschaert who is a legitimate athlete fighting outside of the top fifteen, then Kamaru Usman the former welterweight title holder who moved up to fight Chimaev and took the Russian to an ultra-close decision.
Whittaker’s a bona-fide middleweight elite.
He’s ranked third in a division where he’s held the title previously and one that is as competitive as there is in the UFC.
A black belt in hapkido, a black belt in karate and a black belt in BJJ, Whittaker’s competed against every form of middleweight threat, body type, fighting specialty and nationality,
Save for a loss to current champion DuPlessis, which was an off night for Whittaker and two title losses to then champion Adesanya, Whittaker has defeated all other middleweight threats over the course of the last several years and now he faces an opponent that’s not competed in the octagon since last October.
When this fight begins, Whittaker will need to guard against the immediate/aggressive forward pressing onslaught that will come from Chimaev.
Provided Whittaker can overcome Chimaev’s early overtures he’ll be in a great position to navigate this fight into the second round where he may begin to turn the tables on the wild maniacal front running Chimaev.
Whittaker must survive the first then in the second round he must tax the fatiguing Russian and direct him into the shadow realm where the effects of early round high output fighting can fatigue and conquer the most formidable fighter.
Whittaker has a depth of experience; he’s faced every form of threat in the division, and he’s focused on a title return. His drive, patience, plan and most importantly his legitimate middleweight strength will over the course of this fight begin to sap the young brash Chimaev of his striking effectiveness then eventually his ability to fend off an opponent in Whittaker who will turn up the intensity of his strikes each minute until Chimaev cracks.
I expect it to be sometime in the second round that Whittaker begins to dominate this fight and eventually shuts this bloated welterweight down via stoppage.
Whittaker +210
Chimaev must prove he is able to compete with the Middleweight elite.
Total in this fight 2.5Rds. Under -125
This week the GambLou ‘Bout Business Podcast will be available early Friday AM since these fights from Abu Dhabi begin at 7am PT.
Thank you for reading and enjoy the hostilities!