Significant Stats | UFC 318: Holloway vs Poirier 3

Key Stats: 11 KO/TKO wins (tied 3rd all-time), 3,457 significant strikes landed (1st all-time), 22 wins (tied 5th all-time)

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What It Means: When “Blessed” is at his best, he is an avalanche of nonstop pressure. His footwork out of either stance often allows him to walk his opponents toward the Octagon fence, where he will unleash strikes in bunches. Often, he throws to disrupt the rhythm and timing of his opponent, but he has a good sense of when to sit down on a shot and rattle his opponent. Holloway is happy to sit in the phone booth of an exchange, often banking on his durability, as well as his work rate, to overwhelm his opponents. When he is throwing his spinning back kick as a counter or digging to the body while pressing forward, that is a sign he has found his rhythm against his foe.

Dustin Poirier

Key Stats: 11 KO/TKO wins (tied 3rd all-time), 15 total fight night bonuses (tied 4th all-time), 22 wins (tied 5th all-time) 

What It Means: “The Diamond” possesses some of the smoothest boxing to go along with thudding power. Out of his southpaw stance, Poirier keeps a nice guard with a modified shoulder-roll defense, and his counters out of there are dangerous as he rolls with a shot. Poirier is adept at making reads while lead-hand fighting, and he’s also strong at setting up low leg kicks, whether he is in an open or closed stance against his opponent.

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What to Look For in the Fight: This fight figures to play out almost exclusively on the feet. Holloway has built himself into a legitimate 155er, but Poirier will still likely be the bigger, stronger and more powerful athlete in the Octagon. Holloway will need to break up Poirier’s timing by changing the rhythm of his combinations and feints, while Poirier can’t get caught against the side of the Octagon as a stationary target. When Holloway fought Gaethje, he executed a patient gameplan while still putting pressure on “The Highlight,” and his work against Poirier figures to be similar. There isn’t much chance of grappling in this fight, but if they do get in a scramble, watch for Poirier to give his guillotine one more shot.

Co-Main Event: Paulo Costa vs Roman Kopylov

Paulo Costa

Key Stats: 6.15 strikes landed per minute (2nd all-time among MW), 57.3% significant strike accuracy (7th), 4 KO/TKO wins (tied 7th)

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What It Means: When he is at his best, Costa is an in-your-face, unrelenting presence in the Octagon. He loves to walk his opponents down and bully them against the Octagon with combinations. He switches his attack to the body well, either with punches or kicks, and he does possess strong grappling. His work rate, however, is his best attribute.

Roman Kopylov

Key Stats: 5 KO/TKO wins (tied 2nd), 0.88 knockdowns averaged per 15 minutes (8th), 6 knockdowns landed (tied 4th)

What It Means: Kopylov is a highly skilled striker with very strong kicks to the body and head. He sets those weapons up tactically and methodically, feinting and faking to make reads before pouncing on a window of opportunity.

What to Look For in the Fight: Essentially, distance is going to play a big part in the striking battle. Costa needs to crowd Kopylov to minimize the danger of his kicks while Kopylov needs to maintain distance to get his work done. Costa could also find success mixing in grappling, but that isn’t often his gameplan, despite his skills in that department. Kopylov has displayed solid takedown defense, but it could serve Costa well to mix the martial arts and swallow up the space inside the Octagon.  

Other Fights to Watch (Dan Ige vs Patricio Pitbull, Marvin Vettori vs Brendan Allen) 

Dan Ige

Key Stats: 5 KO/TKO wins (tied 5th all-time), 7 knockdowns landed (6th all-time among FW), 58% takedown defense

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What It Means: Ige is a well-rounded and rock-solid fighter with real knockout power in his hands. He can sometimes wait too long to pull the trigger, but he never loses belief in his ability to land the big punch. Ige also shows good chain wrestling, and he can find a lot of success in clinch situations, where he displays a good ability to control his opponents.

Patricio Pitbull

Key Stats: 2.45 strikes landed per minute, 0.69 takedowns averaged per 15 minutes, 88% takedown defense

What It Means: One of the better featherweights outside of the UFC for years, Pitbull is keen to get his hand raised in the Octagon for the first time. As his even record of 12 knockouts, 12 submissions and 12 decisions shows, Pitbull can get it done in whatever way the fight moves. His grappling is usually his more solid skillset, but he does have good power in his hands.

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What to Look For in the Fight: This is a relatively even matchup on paper as far as skills go. Ige probably has the bigger one-punch power, but Pitbull can also rock the often-durable Hawaiian. Pitbull has also commented on the fact that he feels like Ige has some holes in his grappling game and he could attempt to exploit those early and often.

Marvin Vettori

Key Stats: 16:55 average fight time (3rd longest all-time among MW), 4.54 strikes landed per minute, 1.51 takedowns averaged per 15 minutes

What It Means: Vettori’s best skill might just be his ability to negate his opponent’s strengths. He is defensively sound on the feet with slicker defensive movement than he is often given credit for, and his record of never being finished speaks to his durability. Vettori is physically strong, as well, and he uses that strength to suffocate his opponents against the Octagon and score takedowns. “The Italian Dream” is also a fundamentally sound striker, and he tends to have more success when he ups the volume rather than sit down on single strikes.

Brendan Allen

Key Stats: 6 submission wins (2nd all-time among MW), 38 percent takedown accuracy, 1.53 takedowns averaged per 15 minutes

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What It Means: “All In” is at his best when he can get the fight to the ground, work his way to his foe’s back and fish for the rear-naked choke. A sneaky-big presence in the Octagon, Allen also has confidence in his standup. He possesses powerful kicks and decent hands, but everything comes off his ability to threaten his opponent in the grappling realm.

What to Look For in the Fight: Vettori will kick off every fight of his moving forward and putting pressure on his opponent. Allen will need to get Vettori’s respect early if he doesn’t want to be melted against the side of the Octagon. Whether that’s with a timely takedown and control on the ground or with a powerful strike to stymie the constant forward movement of the Italian, Allen needs to stand his ground early in the fight without wearing himself out.