llia Topuria vs Max Holloway Prediction: An open chance for both fighters

By Saturday evening, UFC Fight Night will host the featherweight division bout between Lia Topuria and Max Holloway. It is set as the Main Card (fight 13 of 13) event in the Octagon enclosure. Lia Topuria has won all of his last five bouts, while Max Holloway has only won three of his last five fights. All action will take place at Etihad Arena, Abu Dhabi, Dubai, United Arab Emirates, and can be watched live on ESPN+.

llia Topuria is a 1st Current Best MMA Welterweight Fighter, 50th Greatest MMA Striker of All Time, 75th Greatest MMA Fighter of All Time, 3rd Current Best P4P MMA Fighter, 35th Top Fan Favorite MMA Fighter, and 2nd MMA Fighter of the Year for 2024. He boasts of fifteen career wins and zero losses. The 27-year-old fighter is fighting out of Las Vegas, Nevada, and out of Alicante, Spain. Throughout his career, his victories have mostly been via submission. His last fight was on February 17, 2024, in UFC 298 against Australia’s Alexander Volkanovski in the Main Card event. He challenged for Volkanovski’s UFC featherweight championship title and won via technical knockout in the second round. His bravery display also won the performance of the night award. Prior to this, he was on the main event at UFC on ABC 5 and won against Josh Emmett via a unanimous decision. He also won the Fight of the Night award. In 2020, he joined UFC promotion and has fought seven times, winning all. Other significant victories Daniel has recorded were against Jai Herbert, Ryan Hall, Damon Jackson, Youssef Zalal, Steven Goncavles, Luis Gomez, and Jhon Guarin. He won the vacant Cage Warriors Vacant Bantamweight Championship against Brian Bouland.

Max Holloway boasts of a professional career record of twenty-six wins and seven losses. He is nicknamed “Blessed” and fights out of Waianae, Hawaii. He last fought on April 13, 2024, in UFC 300 and won against Justin Gaethje via a punches TKO. This victory earned him the UFC "BMF" title belt in the fifth round, winning both the Fight of the Night and Performance of the Night awards. Prior to this, he won the Fight of Night Award against Chan Sung Jung via a right hook TKO in the third round. Other bouts in which he has won this award are Yair Rodriguez (via unanimous decision), Calvin Kattar (via unanimous decision), Dustin Poirer (via unanimous decision), Akira Corassani (via Punches TKO), and Cub Swanson (via Guillotine submission). On December 10, 2016, he fought for the vacant UFC Interim Featherweight Championship against Anthony Pettis via punches TKO. He then solidified his position for the UFC featherweight championship title in June of the following year. He faced Jose Aldo and won via ground-pound TKO. One of his standout performances during his career was against Brian Ortega when Max tried to defend his championship title. He won it in style in the fourth round following a doctor stoppage TKO. This bout won both the fight and performance of the night awards.

Both fighters have been very consistent in recent times. I see this bout as a very open-ended race across both fighters. Llia Topuria is in his prime and also with a younger age advantage. Max has been at the pinnacle since 2017, and his capability and experience aren't something that can be undermeasured. He will be looking to get a unanimous decision win, while Lilia has the tendency of going for a knockout win in the late round. The safest bet is that this game will go the distance.