Dustin Poirier says Conor McGregor will have a puncher’s chance against Max Holloway at UFC 329 and warned that Holloway’s chin may finally be showing signs of wear.
Poirier, who has fought both men three times each, going 2-1 in both trilogies, spoke about the July 11 headliner at T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas on his Deep Waters podcast.
“Conor has the power. No matter the injury that’s going to be there still, the timing — other things matter. But the power is going to be here. This is going to be a firefight. Oliveira was able to smother Holloway, which I was surprised by, because Max is hard to hold down. Conor is going to kickbox with him for 25 minutes. He has a puncher’s chance. Max for sure is a volume puncher, but at 155 when I fought him last, he has power behind his shots, and I’ve got to think at 170 he’s got to have even more power, because Max can punch now. He’s not just a volume puncher. He can finish fights.”
While favoring Holloway overall, Poirier raised a concern about the Hawaiian’s durability heading into the fight.
“The thing that I keep thinking about is in Max’s last three fights, he’s touched the canvas more times than he’s touched his whole career. Gaethje and Topuria dropped him, I dropped him. That’s his last few fights. If Max’s chin is finally catching up to the style of fighting he does, Conor could put him down.”
McGregor, who turns 38 three days after UFC 329, last competed at UFC 264 in July 2021, when he suffered a broken leg in the first round of his trilogy fight with Poirier.