The last time that Max Holloway made a move to the lightweight division, it ended in the Hawaiian facing defeat against Dustin Poirier in their second fight. This loss seems to have swayed the opinions of fans ahead of his UFC 300 clash against Justin Gaethje. But, some MMA bigwigs, including Joe Rogan, disagree.

Justin Gaethje is a top contender in the UFC lightweight division and is presently the favorite in his fight against Holloway. One of the reasons for that is many people consider Holloway isn’t big enough in terms of his size, but Rogan explained why that may not be an issue this around.

Joe Rogan explains why Max Holloway vs. Justin Gaethje is a 50-50 Game

During episode #2128 of the Joe Rogan Experience, the podcast host explained to his guest, Joey Diaz, why Holloway was unsuccessful in securing a win back at UFC 236 against Poirier. Rogan also gave his take on why “Blessed” would perform better in his fight against “The Highlight” at UFC 300.

Rogan said, “A lot of people are counting him out in his Justin Gaethje fight, you know. But he’s got a lot of time to prepare for this. The first fight when he fought 55 when he fought Dustin, that was a short-notice fight. He didn’t have time to like really bulk up. Like well, I don’t know how short notice it was but I know he didn’t bulk up. I think he just tried to fight you know, just be 145 but not cut weight. You know, which is [his] natural weight class.” If Rogan’s claim could not convince you, maybe the man who has beaten Holloway twice can.

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In a recent appearance on ‘The MMA Hour,’ Dustin Poirier said, “I think I’d put money on Max. I’ve seen a lot of people online saying ‘Max is going to be undersized’. Max is a big guy. He and Gaethje probably walk around at the same weight… His timing, range, durability. It’s a coin toss, but if I was betting, I would bet Max.” And the list does not end there.

Bantamweight champion Sean O’Malley‘s coach Tim Welch recently stated, “Justin could have not a great day. Max comes out, starts finding his range early and Justin’s like, ‘Damn, he’s faster than I thought he was. Trickier than I thought he was’. You never know…”

The oddsmakers also favor Gaethje over Holloway with the former set at -225 and the latter at +185. A win for Gaethje would mean he will become the first fighter to defend the BMF title and extend his winning run to three fights. Heading into his UFC 300 battle against Holloway, he has wins over Poirier and Rafael Fiziev.

Holloway is also on his two-match winning run having beaten UK’s Arnold Allen in April last year followed by a win over Chan Sung Jung in August. But his bitter experience of his last lightweight division fight against Poirier means he will have to step up his game.

This time around, Max Holloway has been focused on bulking up the ‘right way’ for his fight against Gaethje. And it does look visible in the recent pictures the 31-year-old was posting on his social media accounts. In fact, Holloway has been updating his fans via YouTube on how he was feeling going into UFC 300.

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“Blessed” updates fans on his progress for UFC 300

The former UFC featherweight champ looks like he’s leaving no stone unturned for his fight at UFC 300. In a new video posted on his channel, Holloway gave the fans an insight into how he was feeling going into the fight on April 13th. And by what “Blessed” had claimed and how he looked, his second entry at lightweight might be more fruitful than his first.

In the video, Holloway said, “I always felt pretty strong for a ’45er. I feel even stronger now at 155, we are moving more weight around in camp. I feel more faster too. We are doing a lot more reactive stuff here, just to keep the speed up to go upto the weight class. At the end of the day I feel really strong. Super strong. I think a lot of people gonna be surprised by my strength when I go in there and show the world what’s up come April 13.”

How do you think that Holloway’s move up to lightweight would end up this time around? Let us know your thoughts in the comments section below.

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