Alexander Volkanovski’s greatest rival gave insight on how he sees the UFC 314 headliner playing out.
Volkanovski (26-5 MMA, 13-4 UFC) takes on Diego Lopes (26-6 MMA, 5-1 UFC) for the vacant featherweight title in Saturday’s main event (ESPN+ pay-per-view) at Kaseya Center from Miami.
Max Holloway, who fought Volkanovski three times, thinks “The Great” reclaims his belt if he can drag Lopes to the latter rounds.
“There’s only two ways I see this fight going,” Holloway said on his YouTube channel. “If Alex be the winner, I think he goes to vintage Alex: stick-and-move, pop-shot, leg kicks, maybe grapple against the fence, some dirty boxing against the fence – he ekes out a decision, maybe a unanimous decision.”
As for Lopes, he sees the dangerous finisher getting the job done early if he wins.
“If Diego wins, it’s within the first three rounds,” Holloway said. “I think Diego catches him. Diego comes at you like 100 miles per hour, bro. He comes at you, and he’s like a crazy train flying off the tracks, bro. He comes right at you, punching at you. I think the most dangerous part for this fight is definitely the first two rounds for Volk, maybe three.”
Ultimately, Holloway picked Volkanovski to win.
“At the end of the day, I think Volk recaptures,” Holloway said. “But I can see Diego capturing it and catching Volk, but it’s MMA. We’ll see what happens.”
For more on the card, visit MMA Junkie’s event hub for UFC 314.
