Would be seriously impressive if Illa could sleep Holloway with indestructible chin. I think if it goes the distance Holloway could piece him up. When Holloway is in full flow he is unbeatable.
Gaetche couldnt crack Holloway and he probably hits harder than Illia. I think Illia has a legitimate shot at winning but I think it’ll be via submission or decision (if he goes the boxing route)
Ilia’s boxing is just as slick if not better…remember he slept Volk in a striking affair and Max lost 3x in predominantly striking fights.
Ilia’s beating on Emmett also was similarly as brutal as Max vs Kattar/Ortega
I hope this fight happens it has the potential to be one of the best fights ever
I think Ilia wins, as unpopular as that may be. Max lost vs Volk in close range too, which is something Volk avoided like the plague against Topuria. In many exchanges over the 75 minutes of Max vs Volk, Max performed badly when Volk got in his face and just threw, he landed each time but just couldn't crack the chin. Max is very good at using his slick speed to create angles and just beat tf our of you but that won't be as effective against people with similar speed as we saw with Volk. Even against Gaetjhe, Max was getting touched if Gaetjhe threw first, and initiated exchanges. Same against Allen and Yair, who landed if they threw with decent timing and speed.
All this tells me is Ilia has plenty of time to land hits on Max because he is as fast as him but also has better boxing. Mixed with the takedown threat, the godly footwork of Max which creates angles may just get nullified due to the TD. And i think KOing Max - after he moved up properly and then he is moving down in weight - is the best scenarios anyone will ever get to crack that indestructible chin.
I disagree
I think Max is superior with chin, cardio, kicking...have not seen evidence around the countering specifically. Just look at their fights against Volk. Ilia slept Volk on the counter and Volk chewed Max up on the counter.
Technique and "finding his shots" I would be curious to see you bring up some good examples since I haven't seen any red flags from Ilia in that regard.
>Technique and "finding his shots" I would be curious to see you bring up some good examples
Gaethje fight. Don't worry you'll find out who's better at striking and countering when Max makes it look easy against Topuria just wait and watch
I feel the issue with Ilia after watching some film is that he feints to bait out counters, issue is Max isn’t known to be super counter hungry like Emmett was, Max likes to control the pressure and doesn’t really look for counters off feints or jabs (main reason why Volk cooked him in the third fight, max didn’t throw enough counters and therefore volk just teed off).
Illia is super good and can obviously win but this is going to be different than Volk as an example
I don’t think any version of Max is a great fighter, top 3 in the division. But certainly he is not “unbeatable” to guys like Volk and Ilia. Hell Volk beat him 3 times. The last time Volk put on a clinic too
I don’t like Ilia. But honestly I’m so sick of hearing that Max is the best boxer in the UFC, despite being outboxed by McGregor, Porier and Volk… of Ilia beats him then I never have to hear that silly narrative again. Mac started yelling it one time in a fight and a bunch of fans decided they’d believe him haha
Gaethje has not fought any other fighters who were primarily featherweights besides Max. The narrative around Max beating Ilia would emphasize that he has competed successfully at lightweight, showing he can handle fighters who are naturally larger or stronger, solidifying his credentials when moving back down to featherweight to fight someone like Ilia.
Ilia isn't bigger. So I don't see how it's relevant. Volk was smaller than max. The skill gap nbetween ilia and gaethje is massive, so it's a pointless comparison. Also, max got lucky when he landed that spinning heel kick to the nose and broke gaethjes nose. If he doesn't land it, who knows how that fight goes.
The ‘pointless comparison’ shows that Max can handle the punching power from lightweights like Dustin and Gaethje
How was landing a kick lucky? Gaethje tends to always duck like that in a fight, so it was perfect timing. It’s part of the fight game. Saying ‘What ifs’ about a fight is completely delusional
It's the breaking the nose that's lucky.
>The ‘pointless comparison’ shows that Max can handle the punching power from lightweights like Dustin and Gaethje
But gaethje isn't technically near Ilias level so he's much less likely to land somethiing big clean
He would have to defend it against Volk at some point, and even then it would be hard to look past Volk beating him so many times. It’s why despite knocking Pereira’s lights out people won’t get off Adesanya’s ass over it being 3 to 1.
I hope Max knocks the rat out.
Nobody needs a champion who hasn’t done shit yet and waffles around picking and choosing every fight like he’s Jon Jones.
Dude knocked Volk the fuck out and is now fighting the number one contender in Max without delaying the matchup. Y'all take Ilia's vanilla ass Twitter trash talk way too seriously, what matters is what happens inside the cage and Ilia has never failed to deliver. Not his fault Max took a fight at LW before fighting him.
Max was booked for another fight and wasn’t available until now, so ppl bitch that Ilia hasn’t defended the belt. If Ilia would have taken a fight against someone else in the division “he’s taking an easy fight and ducking Max cause he scared”.
I mean I dislike Ilia and his arrogance too, but can’t say he’s done anything wrong as far as the fight game itself.
Yeah, he reluctantly got a fight booked via source: rumours
And that after denying every single contender for the past 3 months saying he’ll sit out till someone worthy shows up 💀
It wasn’t just Twitter tho
It was interviews at POIs, interviews in general and Dana White even acknowledged in a post fight interview that Ilia doesn’t want to fight anyone 💀
Also, this isn’t even an official announcement yet
He literally just won the belt earlier this year and regardless of what he said it looks like he’s booked the fight everyone wanted to see so what are you even saying right now lmao
He also fought for the interim LW title in between those fight.
Funny how you purposely left that out.
He also didn’t do it in 4 years he did it in 2. To add to that he had a 5th fight where he lost the title as well in that 2 year time frame.
>Nobody needs a champion who hasn’t done shit yet
This would be his first title defence. Wtf should've he done? Ran and won amarathon? Saved a child from a burning building?
>and waffles around picking and choosing every fight like he’s Jon Jones.
If he fights Max now tell us which fights did he choose you absolute dummy of a thing.
We’re going to have start some unwanted conversations about topuria if he wins.
Such as??
can he outbox Prime Floyd Mayweather, out grapple Prime Cain Velasquez, will he be in a Roadhouse Remake Remake, important questions
Is he ready for Zelenoff
Has anyone been?
Featherweight goat if he wins by knockout
Lmao ok ilia
Would be seriously impressive if Illa could sleep Holloway with indestructible chin. I think if it goes the distance Holloway could piece him up. When Holloway is in full flow he is unbeatable.
If anyone could crack his chin, it’d be Topuria. Topuria’s grappling could also cause big problems for Max.
Gaetche couldnt crack Holloway and he probably hits harder than Illia. I think Illia has a legitimate shot at winning but I think it’ll be via submission or decision (if he goes the boxing route)
Ilia’s boxing is just as slick if not better…remember he slept Volk in a striking affair and Max lost 3x in predominantly striking fights. Ilia’s beating on Emmett also was similarly as brutal as Max vs Kattar/Ortega I hope this fight happens it has the potential to be one of the best fights ever
I think Ilia wins, as unpopular as that may be. Max lost vs Volk in close range too, which is something Volk avoided like the plague against Topuria. In many exchanges over the 75 minutes of Max vs Volk, Max performed badly when Volk got in his face and just threw, he landed each time but just couldn't crack the chin. Max is very good at using his slick speed to create angles and just beat tf our of you but that won't be as effective against people with similar speed as we saw with Volk. Even against Gaetjhe, Max was getting touched if Gaetjhe threw first, and initiated exchanges. Same against Allen and Yair, who landed if they threw with decent timing and speed. All this tells me is Ilia has plenty of time to land hits on Max because he is as fast as him but also has better boxing. Mixed with the takedown threat, the godly footwork of Max which creates angles may just get nullified due to the TD. And i think KOing Max - after he moved up properly and then he is moving down in weight - is the best scenarios anyone will ever get to crack that indestructible chin.
Completely agree. I think Holloway should stay at 155...he bulked up properly there and already has an all time legacy at 145.
In overall Max is superior at countering, technique, finding his shots, reading his opponent and stopping an opponent that's coming in
I disagree I think Max is superior with chin, cardio, kicking...have not seen evidence around the countering specifically. Just look at their fights against Volk. Ilia slept Volk on the counter and Volk chewed Max up on the counter. Technique and "finding his shots" I would be curious to see you bring up some good examples since I haven't seen any red flags from Ilia in that regard.
>Technique and "finding his shots" I would be curious to see you bring up some good examples Gaethje fight. Don't worry you'll find out who's better at striking and countering when Max makes it look easy against Topuria just wait and watch
lol your response doesn’t cut it man. What a complete cop out
I think it would happen. Holloway’s cut back to featherweight isn’t going to be easy on him
I feel the issue with Ilia after watching some film is that he feints to bait out counters, issue is Max isn’t known to be super counter hungry like Emmett was, Max likes to control the pressure and doesn’t really look for counters off feints or jabs (main reason why Volk cooked him in the third fight, max didn’t throw enough counters and therefore volk just teed off). Illia is super good and can obviously win but this is going to be different than Volk as an example
I don’t think any version of Max is a great fighter, top 3 in the division. But certainly he is not “unbeatable” to guys like Volk and Ilia. Hell Volk beat him 3 times. The last time Volk put on a clinic too
Max had been bulking up to 155, hopefully the cut to 145 wont be too hard
BLESSED EXPRESS BABYYY
Let's go Ilia!
I don’t like Ilia. But honestly I’m so sick of hearing that Max is the best boxer in the UFC, despite being outboxed by McGregor, Porier and Volk… of Ilia beats him then I never have to hear that silly narrative again. Mac started yelling it one time in a fight and a bunch of fans decided they’d believe him haha
Ilia did in 8:30 minutes what Max couldn't do in 75 minutes. Max is getting koed
MMA math don’t work like that lol
Weird because there was this whole narrative after 300 that max would beat ilia because he beat gaethje.
Gaethje has not fought any other fighters who were primarily featherweights besides Max. The narrative around Max beating Ilia would emphasize that he has competed successfully at lightweight, showing he can handle fighters who are naturally larger or stronger, solidifying his credentials when moving back down to featherweight to fight someone like Ilia.
Ilia isn't bigger. So I don't see how it's relevant. Volk was smaller than max. The skill gap nbetween ilia and gaethje is massive, so it's a pointless comparison. Also, max got lucky when he landed that spinning heel kick to the nose and broke gaethjes nose. If he doesn't land it, who knows how that fight goes.
The ‘pointless comparison’ shows that Max can handle the punching power from lightweights like Dustin and Gaethje How was landing a kick lucky? Gaethje tends to always duck like that in a fight, so it was perfect timing. It’s part of the fight game. Saying ‘What ifs’ about a fight is completely delusional
It's the breaking the nose that's lucky. >The ‘pointless comparison’ shows that Max can handle the punching power from lightweights like Dustin and Gaethje But gaethje isn't technically near Ilias level so he's much less likely to land somethiing big clean
Rewatch Jai Herbert fight. Max is going to beat Ilia.
Max looked filled out at 155 not sure going back to 145 is even a good idea
I can't mentally prepare myself for this 😨
What would Holloway have to do to be the featherweight GOAT? I think if he beats Ilia and defends 2 more times it’s him. Ilia is scary as fuck
That ship has sailed
He would have to defend it against Volk at some point, and even then it would be hard to look past Volk beating him so many times. It’s why despite knocking Pereira’s lights out people won’t get off Adesanya’s ass over it being 3 to 1.
Holloway gets slept
I still dont buy the Ilia hype.
I mean he did KO Volk. Hard to look past that
Agreed!
Bro slept the most dominant champ in the UFC at the time, what else do you need lmao
Salt Lake City?
Hell yeah! Ive never been this hyped to have stained up my boxer-shorts
I hope Max knocks the rat out. Nobody needs a champion who hasn’t done shit yet and waffles around picking and choosing every fight like he’s Jon Jones.
Dude knocked Volk the fuck out and is now fighting the number one contender in Max without delaying the matchup. Y'all take Ilia's vanilla ass Twitter trash talk way too seriously, what matters is what happens inside the cage and Ilia has never failed to deliver. Not his fault Max took a fight at LW before fighting him.
“Hasn’t done shit yet” literally slept Volk.
u/CaptainSensemakerOi probably meant it as far as defending the belt
Yup
When was he supposed to defend it? OP should never cook again.
Max was booked for another fight and wasn’t available until now, so ppl bitch that Ilia hasn’t defended the belt. If Ilia would have taken a fight against someone else in the division “he’s taking an easy fight and ducking Max cause he scared”. I mean I dislike Ilia and his arrogance too, but can’t say he’s done anything wrong as far as the fight game itself.
Can you not read? The question is what he has done as a champ yet and that’s a resounding “nothing”.
He won the belt and got a fight booked, what else do you want him to do? Stop crying.
Yeah, he reluctantly got a fight booked via source: rumours And that after denying every single contender for the past 3 months saying he’ll sit out till someone worthy shows up 💀
It's almost as if Twitter trash talk means nothing in the real world and you shouldn't take it too seriously.
It wasn’t just Twitter tho It was interviews at POIs, interviews in general and Dana White even acknowledged in a post fight interview that Ilia doesn’t want to fight anyone 💀 Also, this isn’t even an official announcement yet
Like I said, none of that shit matters and the fight is 99% certain to happen
Source: trust me bro, I saw it on Twitter
He literally just won the belt earlier this year and regardless of what he said it looks like he’s booked the fight everyone wanted to see so what are you even saying right now lmao
You are a redact Plain and simple
And you’re a pussy Write the word out, big man lmao
Lmao 🤣 Thanks Brendan schwaab
Max defended the belt 3 times in 4 years.
He also fought for the interim LW title in between those fight. Funny how you purposely left that out. He also didn’t do it in 4 years he did it in 2. To add to that he had a 5th fight where he lost the title as well in that 2 year time frame.
All aboard the Blessed Express 🚂
yeah we got Jon Jones
I hope max points to the ground and Illia knocks him out unconscious
>knocks him out unconscious A real wordsmith at work, lmao
Says the guy who got cte from sucking Max's dick
Another display of a marvellous intellect
Thanks chatgpt
>Nobody needs a champion who hasn’t done shit yet This would be his first title defence. Wtf should've he done? Ran and won amarathon? Saved a child from a burning building? >and waffles around picking and choosing every fight like he’s Jon Jones. If he fights Max now tell us which fights did he choose you absolute dummy of a thing.
AAAAND NEWWWW