UFC 236 is tonight, and really, there’s only two fights on the card that are noteworthy. There’s the co-main event, which has Kelvin Gastelum facing Israel Adesanya for the interim middleweight championship belt, and the main event, which has featherweight champ Max Holloway taking on Dustin Poirier for the interim lightweight belt.
(Why this event isn’t title “UFC 236: Interim!” is beyond me.)
In my humble opinion, only the Holloway vs. Poirier match-up is compelling, so let’s take a little deeper dive into that one, shall we?
In case you forget, these two dudes met back when they were kids – UFC 143, to be exact. Poirier was still young and innocent, and Holloway had yet to go through puberty, and the end result was Holloway losing via mounted triangle.
They’re wholly different fighters now, of course. And far more badass than they used to be.
In fact, you might say both are at their peaks.
Who takes this one? Well, Holloway has no problem eating strikes to deliver some heat of his own, and Poirier is a pretty ace boxer… Plus, there’s whatever health issues Holloway has been dealing with (remember his concussion-like symptoms?).
If both men are in top shape, I’d say Holloway takes it. But if the Hawaiian is on the cusp of becoming Mr. CTE, well, it’s a different story entirely.
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