00:00UFC 308 going down this weekend after a brief pause there for live viewers we get back up
00:14and running here.
00:16Very interesting main event and honestly very interesting main and co-main.
00:19We do these on Mondays of every UFC pay-per-view where we look at the big fights coming up
00:25on it and the main and co-main and this is one of the better combinations you will have
00:29it is Ilya Teporia defending the featherweight championship as he goes up against Max Holloway
00:35and in the co-main event you have Robert Whitaker and Honza Chemaev looking to settle who will
00:40be the next probable challenger at 185 pounds.
00:44Let's start with the 145 pounders Teporia has a chance to go back to back against legends
00:49first he has a win over Alex Volkanovsky and now he is facing Max Holloway this kid feels
00:54like one of the next big things and it has felt like that for a little bit 27 years old
00:59he feels like a superstar everyone clamors for the UFC to do stadium shows they could
01:04do a soccer stadium with him in Spain tomorrow and it would be perfect I think this guy has
01:10the feel the style and all of it of one of the biggest stars in the Ultimate Fighting
01:17Championship we have him pretty high up in the pound-for-pound rankings right now and
01:21honestly if he beats Holloway he has a very good case to move into that top three it's
01:27going to be tough to get past Pereira and to get past Makisev up at number one but wins
01:36over Volk and Holloway get you into the top three at least and get you onto the podium
01:40so he has an opportunity here this weekend to at 27 work his way into pound-for-pound
01:45number one at least consideration with a victory for Max Holloway it's looking to find that
01:49magic again he has the epic knockout over Justin Gaethje but I still think people view
01:56him a little bit differently than he deserves he is only 32 years old and I think having
02:01the losses against Volkanovski and having while Volk was the champ no clear path to
02:06a championship opportunity you then fall into oh it's the Rich Franklin it's the Kenny
02:11Florian it's all these guys where yeah you know what very good fight very good fighter
02:16no one questioning how good Max Holloway was but at this point it's just not there for
02:19you can't be the champion so you're just going to kind of take some money weight fights and
02:24that's going to be that and that's going to be the end of it um not so much this guy's
02:2932 years old his last four losses three of them have come to Alex Volkanovski who at
02:33the time was the number one pound-for-pound fighter in the world and the other one comes
02:36to Dustin Poirier who kind of does that to everyone when Holloway was moving up to 155
02:41for one of the first times in his career and so I I just think that people really underestimate
02:47Max Holloway going into this like I said coming off of a legendary knockout over Gaethje but
02:52let's not just let that fight be brought down to one epic moment epic moment all-time
02:57great moment for sure but it was a dominant performance the whole night vintage Max Holloway
03:07that Max Holloway against almost anybody doesn't lose I just don't know if to Poirier is in
03:13that category I just feel like he might be a level above this fight is gonna be so interesting
03:17to go through and break down as the week goes on um in the co-main event it is a middleweight
03:22bout between Robert Whitaker and Hamzat Chemaev for Chemaev it is time to get going he for
03:28a long time has been the best fighter to not have a championship in the UFC and it just
03:35it doesn't quite frankly feel like he is taking it seriously and I think the momentum completely
03:41stalled at UFC 279 when he misses weight for that goes out and just ragdolls Kevin
03:48Holland but since then he's only fought once it was basically a year ago against Kamaru
03:53Usman and that one it's at 185 and you beat a 170 pounder so it feels like that momentum
03:58is cooled and so I think the big thing to watch this weekend is can Hamzat get that
04:04buzz back can he get that can you remind everyone that he is one of the best fighters in the
04:10world because I don't think there is a question when you just look at talent that he might
04:15be the most talented fighter in the ultimate fighting championship today he does not have
04:20the championship resume to prove it yet but he does have an opportunity to really establish
04:25that here this weekend when he goes up against Robert Whitaker and try to get that buzz back
04:30and get back on top for Whitaker it is a chance to remind everyone how good he is again I
04:35feel like a lot of people almost underrate him because he hasn't been in the title picture
04:40for a long time the loss against DDP was a real difficult one and it just it has kind
04:47of now set him back but we do forget before Izzy came in and kind of dominated Robert
04:52Whitaker was the guy at 185 pounds a win here as improbable as it may seem but a win here
05:00gets him back into that conversation again gets him into a title shot opportunity against
05:06Drikus Duplassie and creates a real buzz around him again so it's just it is kind of like
05:12Max Holloway where you have a chance against someone who most of the MMA community feels
05:18has passed you by this is a chance to go out and grab that reputation back and be like
05:22no you know what I'm still that guy I'm still going to be the one who can go out and get
05:27that job done so it's going to be really interesting to see what Robert Whitaker can do this weekend.
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