Max Holloway, a former UFC featherweight champion, shared his take on the UFC 319 middleweight title fight between champion Dricus Du Plessis and challenger Khamzat Chimaev, scheduled for August 16, 2025, at the United Center in Chicago. Speaking on his YouTube channel, on August 14, 2025, Holloway called the matchup tough to predict, praising both fighters’ skills and offering key advice for Du Plessis to counter Chimaev’s wrestling.
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Holloway’s fight breakdown
Holloway expressed admiration for both fighters, saying:
“I like both guys. Both guys are awesome. This is crazy. I understand why, but this is crazy. The champion, especially with who he beat, is an underdog. It’s kinda crazy. The reason why he is, I understand who Chimaev is.”
He stressed Du Plessis’ credentials, adding:
“You can’t disrespect the champion, that’s why. Look at who he beat. He beat a who’s who.” Holloway also acknowledged Chimaev’s dominance, noting, “Then you look on the opposite side with Chimaev, look what he did. He’s convincing the shit out of everybody when he wins his fights. It’s so hard.”
He pointed to Chimaev’s 2023 fight against Kamaru Usman as a key lesson.
“The one biggest thing that I can point out that I hope this fight du Plessis watched was the fight that Chimaev fought Kamaru Usman,” Holloway said. “If you watch that fight, not many people are going to pick up on this, but here’s a little spoiler for you guys, every time Kamaru Usman decided to anti-wrestle and not wrestle back with Chimaev, he actually defended a takedown. Go watch. Go watch all the takedowns that Kamaru Usman defended. It was takedowns that he didn’t try to counter-wrestle with him, he just anti-wrestled, meaning he was just trying to go for full breaks and that’s it. He had great success when he wasn’t trying to counter back.”
Holloway warned against Du Plessis’ plan to wrestle Chimaev directly.
“Any time Usman did try to wrestle back with him, guess who won the exchange? You guessed it right, Chimaev,” he said. “If du Plessis took anything, I saw his coach saying they want to take the wrestling to him, that’s not the way you’re going to beat him. This guy is just going to wrestle back with you. You need to anti-wrestle. Then, maybe later on, you wrestle back.”
Holloway struggled to pick a winner, saying:
“It is so hard to pick. I understand why you’re disrespecting the champ, but I feel like you shouldn’t. I feel like it should be even odds both ways.” He leaned toward Chimaev early but favored Du Plessis late, stating, “The degen gambler in me would go du Plessis, but my mind is going Chimaev. And the whole thing with Chimaev that I’m really trying to know in this one is if his cardio is there. So at the end of the day, I’m not going to pick anybody in the main event. But if it’s a finish, I think it’s Khamzat, and if it goes four rounds or more, I think du Plessis wins a decision or late finish. But three rounds and under, I think it’s a Khamzat fight.” via MMAFighting
Dricus Du Plessis (23-2 MMA, 9-0 UFC), a 31-year-old from Pretoria, South Africa, won the middleweight title with a split decision over Sean Strickland at UFC 297 in January 2024. He defended it with a fourth-round submission of Israel Adesanya at UFC 305 in August 2024 and a unanimous decision over Strickland at UFC 312 in February 2025. A former KSW welterweight and EFC middleweight champion, Du Plessis has 19 finishes (nine knockouts, 10 submissions).
Khamzat Chimaev (14-0 MMA, 8-0 UFC), a 30-year-old from Chechnya, debuted in 2020 with two first-round finishes on Fight Island. His first-round submission of Robert Whittaker at UFC 308 in October 2024. He won decisions over Gilbert Burns in 2022 and Usman in 2023, showing cardio struggles in both. This is his first five-round fight, and he ranks No. 3 in the middleweight division.
Chris Weidman picked Du Plessis, citing his cardio edge. Michael Bisping, on his YouTube channel, said Chimaev’s early pressure might fade in later rounds. Khabib Nurmagomedov advised Chimaev to strike early, while Du Plessis told FOX 32 News, “This is MMA, not wrestling.” Jon Jones, who vacated the heavyweight title in June 2025, adds context, as his absence elevates middleweight stars like Du Plessis and Chimaev.
