Justin Gaethje vs Max Holloway Preview & Picks – Gaethje To Win BMF Title Fight At UFC 300

Justin Gaethje is tipped to successfully ‘defend’ the unofficial BMF title.

Gaethje is happy to take a punch to give one, and he does throw with a good degree of accuracy.

He is also the one fighting at his usual weight, while Max Holloway’s last lightweight outing did not go well.

Justin Gaethje is the unofficial BMF champion with a professional record of 20-4 (20 KOs, 1 Sub).

Gaethje debuted in the UFC back in July 2017 and made a successful debut, stopping Michael Johnson with strikes in the second round.

His momentum almost immediately stalled though, as he was knocked out by Eddie Alvarez in the third round and by Dustin Poirier in the fourth.

The 35-year-old rebounded from those early setbacks though, sparking a four-game win streak with an 87 knockout of James Vick.

Gaethje then knocked out Edson Barboza and Donald Cerrone in the first, and Tony Ferguson in the fifth to win the interim lightweight title.

He came up short in his first proper title fight as he was submitted by Khabib Nurmagomedov in the second, and after bouncing back with a point win over Michael Chandler, he lost another title fight.

This time ‘The Highlight’ was submitted by Charles Oliveira in the opening round of their contest.

Gaethje has bounced back since then however, claiming a majority decision win over Rafael Fiziev before knocking out Dustin Poirier in the second round.

Max Holloway is a former UFC featherweight champion with a professional record of 25-7 (11 KOs, 2 Subs).

Holloway has been competing in the UFC since February 2012 and has established himself as one of the sport’s very best strikers.

He went 3-3 in his first six fights, but responded to a points defeat to Conor McGregor with a 13-fight win streak that took him to the top of the featherweight division.

The 32-year-old Hawaiian won the interim title by stopping Anthony Pettis with strikes in December 2016.

Holloway then became the undisputed champion with back-to-back TKO wins over the legendary Jose Aldo, stopping him in the third round in both fights.

‘Blessed’ then beat Brian Ortega via doctor stoppage to retain his title, before moving up to lightweight to lose a title fight with Dustin Poirier by unanimous decision.

In his return to featherweight he lost the title to Alexander Volkanovski by unanimous decision, and in the rematch he was beaten by split decision.

Holloway got back on track with points wins against Calvin Kattar and Yair Rodriguez, but he again came up short when he fought Volkanovski for the title, losing via unanimous decision.

He put that behind him in 2023 though, as he beat Arnold Allen on points and ‘The Korean Zombie’ by third-round knockout.