Max Holloway gives Joshua Van the edge in one area when comparing their styles.
Van (15-2 MMA, 8-1 UFC) challenges flyweight champion Alexandre Pantoja (30-5 MMA, 14-3 UFC) in Saturday’s UFC 323 (pay-per-view, ESPN2/FX/Disney+, ESPN+) co-main event at T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas.
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With Van’s furious pace on the feet, he has drawn comparisons to BMF champion Holloway.
“I hear the comparisons,” Holloway said of Van on his YouTube channel. “A lot of people say Joshua Van fights like me. He likes peppering, peppering big. I think he’s got some KO power, though. I don’t know what you guys talking about.”
When breaking down the fight, Holloway couldn’t ignore Pantoja’s grappling skills, which were on full display in his past two submissions wins over Kai Asakura and Kai Kara-France.
“Pantoja likes a firefight. He doesn’t shy away from a fight, and I think Joshua Van is going to bring it,” Holloway said. “I think this has Fight of the Night written all over it. With Pantoja having the championship experience is going to help him a lot here. I don’t know too much about Joshua’s grappling.
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“I’m thinking Pantoja’s probably going to try to bang with Joshua, might get hit in the first two rounds, might get touched a little bit. Then he’s going to go to his grappling. That’s where Pantoja wins this fight. He has a great grappling base, he takes him down, he maintains the top, and he might get the submission.”
Holloway struggled to make a prediction, and opted not to make one at the end.
“This fight is a freaking toss-up, bro,” Holloway said. “I don’t even want to pick a fight, bro. I’m a fan of Joshua, I’m a fan of Pantoja. I just hope they go out there and do their thing, they fight their asses off and they get a bonus for it.”
This article originally appeared on MMA Junkie: Max Holloway aware of Joshua Van comparisons, but gives him advantage
