Who should be this year’s Fighter of the Year? At the moment, many feel it should be UFC light heavyweight champion Alex Pereira, who has defended his light heavyweight title thrice this year alone, two of those coming against former champions. However, former featherweight champion Alexander Volkanovski feels that the UFC 308 main event may change the ‘FOTY’ race drastically.

“I mean if Ilia [Topuria] goes out there [at UFC 308] and does his thing, mate you know that’s very impressive. Obviously taking myself out and Max, the two guys that have been on top of this division for so long, it’s impressive, you know what I mean. And you know he’ll be right up there for Fighter of the Year, you know. He’s maybe not as active as some of some of the other guys but the competition is you know, [much better],” ‘Volk’ told MMA journalist Kevin Iole in a recent interview.

Featherweight champion Ilia Topuria, of course, is set to face former champion Max Holloway at UFC 308 on October 26. The latter, of course, along with Volkanovski, is considered the greatest featherweight in the history of the sport by many. Not only has Holloway been fighting at the highest level for the past decade, but he hasn’t lost at 145lbs over that time, except to ‘Volk’ in their three fights so far.

And ‘Alexander The Great’ feels that if ‘El Matador’ manages to beat Holloway in their much-awaited clash, he will have arguably the best portfolio of any UFC fighter this year, which should make him worthy of being the ‘Fighter of the Year’ for 2024. Even though Pereira has also beaten two former champions this year (Jamahal Hill and Jiri Prochazka), neither man has the stature and caliber as ‘Volk’ and ‘Blessed’ have at their weight class.

Alexander Volkanovski feels Max Holloway’s outboxing will be a big problem for Topuria

Ilia Topuria has said that if he cannot knock out Max Holloway early, he will put his BJJ black belt and Greco-Roman wrestling background to full use and take ‘Blessed’ to the ground. After all, the former champion is a pure striker through and through and does not have any real ground game. However, Alexander Volkanovski feels that Topuria is underestimating just how good of a takedown defense Holloway has, and feels the fight will remain mostly on the feet, despite Topuria’s best attempts to take it to the canvas. And there, according to ‘Volk’, Holloway has a clear advantage.

“I think he’ll [Holloway will] be able to outwork him from the outside and [going] five rounds with Max Holloway isn’t easy – especially if you’re a pop and rocker looking for that power [shot]… Look, he might catch him, but I think it’s going to be a long and hard night for Topuria,” Volkanovski said.

Holloway, of course, has an 85% takedown defense rate and has never submitted inside the octagon despite having almost no grappling. And on the feet, he has a height and reach advantage over the Spanish-Georgian champ. Not to mention, ‘Blessed’ is mostly an outboxer and does his best work from a distance, unlike Topuria, who likes to get in the pocket and have a firefight with his opponents.

And Volkanovski thinks Holloway is too good to fall into Topuria’s traps and will not stand and bang with the champ, which doesn’t bode well for him. What are your predictions for Topuria-Holloway?