UFC 308: Ilia Topuria vs. Max Holloway Head-to-Toe Breakdown

The UFC 308 main event might just be the best possible fight in all of MMA right now.

The card, which goes down this Saturday in Abu Dhabi, will be topped by a featherweight title fight, with champ Ilia Topuria taking on BMF champ and living MMA legend Max Holloway.

It's a clash of generations. While the undefeated Topuria is only two years his opponent's junior at 28, he's just seven fights into his UFC career. Holloway, meanwhile, has been with the UFC since 2012 and has battled a staggering list of world-class foes in that time, including Dustin Poirier (twice), Conor McGregor, Cub Swanson, Charles Oliveira, Anthony Pettis, Jose Aldo, Brian Ortega, Frankie Edgar, Alexander Volkanovski, Yair Rodriguez, Chan Sung Jung, and Justin Gaethje—and he's beaten all but a few of them.

It's also an incredibly difficult fight to call. While Topuria is a slight favorite, he and Holloway are two of the sharpest strikers in MMA today, and they have also proven they can end things on the canvas.

It's a fight that could go either way and change the career of the winner.

Scroll on to see how the pair match up on paper and for our best guess as to who leaves Abu Dhabi with the belt in their luggage.

The most exciting aspect of the UFC 308 main event is the way Topuria and Holloway match up on the feet. These are legitimately two of the most effective and dangerous strikers in MMA right now.

Both men reaffirmed their striking prowess in their latest performances.

For Topuria, it was a title-winning knockout of all-time great Alexander Volkanovski back in February. There was some suggestion that Volkanovski may have been compromised after a recent knockout loss to Islam Makhachev, but it was an incredibly impressive performance nonetheless—and far from the first stunning knockout win on the Georgia-born Spaniard's resume.

Holloway's last performance occurred on the main card of UFC 300 in April, when he scored a dramatic last-second, one-punch knockout victory over Justin Gaethje in a BMF title fight. It was—without a modicum of exaggeration—one of the most memorable performances in MMA history, and it cemented Holloway as an icon of the sport. Much like his recent one-hitter-quitter of another iron-chinned foe in Chan Sung Jung, it also reaffirmed that, contrary to previous perceptions, he is not just a volume puncher but a legitimate KO threat.

Yes, these two are both spectacular on the feet, which makes it very difficult to say who's better. Thankfully, the stats make things a little clearer.

Not only has Holloway developed one-shot KO power to match Topuria's, but he also lands far more significant strikes per minute than the reigning champ (7.17 to 4.40) and has a slightly better accuracy rate (48 to 46 percent), per UFCStats.com.

This is by no means a suggestion that Holloway will beat Topuria on the feet, but he seems to be slightly more polished, and when you consider his years of success fighting the best strikers in two divisions, it's clear he should be given a slight edge.

Edge: Holloway

Max Holloway, a BJJ brown belt under Rylan Lizares, is an excellent grappler, even if he has only finished two of his 26 pro victories by submission. However, Topuria will clearly have the upper hand if this fight turns into a grappling match. He has finished more than half of his 15 pro wins by submission, including a particularly memorable arm-triangle choke against an excellent grappler in Bryce Mitchell.

The stats reflect Topuria's submission skill. He attempts a solid 1.3 submissions per 15 minutes in the Octagon, according to UFCStats.com. That includes five attempts in his UFC debut, a decision win over Youssef Zalal. While he seems to prefer doing his fighting on the feet, he is seemingly always aware of the submission opportunities at his disposal and will make his opponents tap if their defense isn't on point.

Submission defense is definitely a strong point for Holloway. He's only been submitted once in 33 pro fights—by Dustin Poirier in his UFC debut. However, there's no question Topuria is the more proven fighter in this area.

Edge: Topuria

As is so often the case, the fighter with the submission edge should also have the wrestling edge.

While Topuria didn't grow up on the wrestling mats in the United States or practicing sambo in the mountains of Dagestan, he has already proven himself as a very efficient wrestler.

In terms of the stats, he completes just under two takedowns per 15 in the Octagon and boasts an accuracy rate of 56 percent. His takedown skill was particularly on display in his decision wins over Zalal and Josh Emmett, during which he completed five and three takedowns, respectively.

Holloway, in contrast, completes just 0.25 takedowns per 15 minutes in the Octagon, per UFCStats.com. In fact, he has only completed eight takedowns in his 29 UFC bouts to date, and those eight were spread out over just five fights.

This isn't to say Holloway is a bad wrestler, but it's not a focal point of his game, and even if it was, he'd probably run into some serious resistance in the face of Topuria's 92 percent takedown defense rate.

Edge: Topuria

Holloway's X-Factor: Experience

As we've covered, Holloway will only have a slight advantage on the feet against Topuria at best and will likely be outmatched against the champion if the fight hits the mat. If there's one area where he has a clear, inarguable advantage, however, it's in terms of experience. He has over four times as many UFC fights as Topuria, and the majority of those fights have come against some the greatest fighters in featherweight and lightweight history—we're talking the likes Dustin Poirier, Conor McGregor, Charles Oliveira, Jose Aldo, Alexander Volkanovski, and Justin Gaethje. He has seen it all.

Sure, Topuria proved he's the real deal in his recent knockout win over Volkanovski, but that's really the only world-class opponent on his resume. Josh Emmett and Bryce Mitchell are very good, to be sure, but they're nothing compared to the guys Holloway has spent his career fighting.

Experience matters in MMA, and very few people have more than the Hawaiian BMF champ.

Topuria's X-Factor: Momentum

Much like experience, momentum also matters in MMA—and Topuria has a lot of it.

He's undefeated as a pro at 15-0, and his last seven wins have occurred in the Octagon. His last was particularly impressive, as he became just the second man to beat Volkanovski in the Octagon after lightweight champ Islam Makhachev. Keep in mind that is something Holloway tried and failed to do a whopping three times. He could not figure the Australian legend out, but Topuria did it on his first try. The featherweight champ is a runaway train right now, and he's going to enter his fight with Holloway with a ton of confidence and self-belief burning inside him.

Most people will agree that Topuria should be favored in this matchup. Even if he's slightly less polished on the feet than Holloway, he's a very good striker all the same and probably packs more firepower than his challenger to balance any technical discrepancies out. He also has incredible submissions and wrestling to fall back on if a striking match doesn't fancy him—not to mention tons of momentum and confidence, which could counter Holloway's massive experience edge. He's also younger, and more importantly, has immeasurably less wear and tear on his body.

He will probably win, and assuming Holloway's legendary durability holds up, it will probably be by decision, thanks to a combination of striking success, deftly-timed takedowns, and grappling control.

Of course, Holloway was supposed to lose to Justin Gaethje, too...and we all saw how that went. Counting him out would be stupid, but there's no question a Topuria win is the safer pick.

Prediction: Ilia Topuria by unanimous decision