Max Holloway vs Yair Rodriguez: No champion's rounds

Another UFC Fight Night event will take place in Las Vegas on the night of November 14. Max Holloway and Yair Rodriguez will meet in the main event of the evening.

The bout will take place in the featherweight division. Holloway is ranked number one in the UFC welterweight division, while Rodriguez is ranked third.

Max was supposed to fight Rodriguez back in the summer but withdrew due to injury. His reputation has not been affected. Holloway's fans adore him for his flamboyant fighting and cuteness outside the ring.

There is another thing that added to his reputation, strangely enough, two defeats to the champion Alex Volkanovski, in which he (in the eyes of many) looked better.

But the judges reckoned differently. Volkanovski was left with the belt and Holloway with the love of the public.

It's hard to be angry about the fight with Volkanovski because 80-90% of the people in the world think I won. And I'm not just talking about the fans. I'm talking about the fighters. It's guys like Nate Diaz, Dustin Porter, Justin Gaethje, Jorge Masvidal, coaches, George St-Pierre's mentor, Big John McCarthy - the man who came up with the rules. I'm not angry about it.

Max Holloway

After his fight with Volkanovski, Max fought Calvin Kattar, closing out the defeat, and at the same time, updating a few UFC records.

Holloway landed 445 accent strikes in that bout, which is a league record. Previously in no fight have the fighters performed more than 400 such punches between them. Holloway also holds the record for the most punches to the head with 274 and the body with 117. In addition, Max broke two of his old records: 445 punches per fight (before 290), and 141 meaningful punches per round (before 134).

Yair Rodriguez avoided the fight with Zabit Magomedsharipov, which was unlikely to be anything but a disappointment. He has little hope of success against Holloway, but it is the number one ranking, and in case of sudden victory, this is a very promising prospect.

Instead of Zabit, he had two fights with Jeremy Stephens. The first fight was No Contest due to an accidental poke in the eye, but he won by unanimous decision in the second fight. He was pounding his opponent with heavy blows two rounds, sometimes dropping him to the floor, and in the third round, Stevens freed him to the ground, controlled almost the whole round, but it was not enough for the overall victory.

Rodriguez is an unsympathetic personality to most fans, and not only because he avoided the fight with Zabit. He was even fired from the league for prolonged downtime but then somehow got a deal. On top of that, he also received a six-month suspension from WADA for failing to notify anti-doping officers of his whereabouts.

At first glance, the most beautiful bet is Total Over 3.5 for 1.70. It is a nice bet because even though Max dominates by pummeling his opponent with punches, he is knocking him out very rarely.

I think you have to consider the fact that Rodriguez hasn't fought in two years, and it will be very difficult for him to face Holloway, who is on fire. Even the not-so-killer punches (when there are many) have a cumulative effect. On the other hand, you can't rule out the Mexican's punch either. Just remember how he took out 'The Korean Zombie' with an elbow. Therefore, my prediction is Total Under 2.5 for 2.50.

You can also bet on Holloway's victory for 1.18 and Rodriguez's for 5.50.