Every hero needs a great villain …

As a child, I owned the VHS box set of the original Star Wars trilogy, and would often find myself popping Episodes IV and VI into my TV, which would usually lead to a great afternoon. Episode V though, that pesky Empire Strikes Back movie … The one where Luke gets his hand cut off and Han gets frozen in carbonite … Was the one I seldom watched, because, especially as a kid, it’s hard to see the hero lose.

UFC 308, live from Etihad Arena in the UAE on Saturday morning, features more than one clash of fan favorites vs dastardly heels, and just like the aforementioned Star Wars V, the villains might walk away on top.

The main event of the evening features BMF Title holder Max Holloway vs Featherweight Champion Ilia Topuria in a clash for the 145lb belt. The two fighters could not have more opposite fan reactions coming into this fight. Holloway, loved by almost every UFC fan for over a decade, has dazzled the crowd with his signature grit, toughness, and willingness to stand and bang with anybody. It doesn’t hurt that through 29 fights in the UFC, Holloway hasn’t been knocked down once. You heard me right, not knocked out … knocked down. An unbelievable statistic for any fighter to hold, let alone a current and former champion. Max’s legacy was further cemented earlier this year at UFC 300, when he knocked out Justin Gaethje in one of the greatest upset finishes of all time.

On Saturday he faces Ilia Topuria, a man who is very good, and who knows it. Topuria, through no fault of his own, just happened to stumble into the role of the villain during his UFC career. His road to the UFC Featherweight title saw him KO one of the most beloved fighters of all time in Alexander Volkanovski, and now he finds himself facing another fan favorite in Holloway. Topuria, when facing such unequivocal good guys, decided to play up the “heel” role, something that fighters like Connor McGregor and Chael Sonnen have done in the past, but so far, Ilia has backed up every single piece of trash talk that he’s thrown out, which makes people even more enticed to route against him.

When the two come face to face, there will absolutely be fireworks, but it will take a perfect fight from Holloway to escape with a win. Topuria, the younger, faster, and more powerful fighter, has one of the most complete fighter toolkits ever seen, and has, up to this point in his career, looked nothing short of immortal. In fact, through 15 undefeated fights, Topuria only ever looked human for a brief moment against Jai Herbert when he took a clean kick to the head that should have put him out. Topuria still managed to wrestle himself out of the situation and eventually went on to finish Herbert.

Is it Saturday yet⁉️

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— UFC (@ufc) October 23, 2024

Another so called villain could be poised to win in the co-main event of the evening, as Robert Whittaker takes on Khamzat Chimaev in a Middleweight bout with title implications. Robert “Bobby Knuckles” Whittaker, finds himself in the hero role of this fight. A former champion of the division who’s sharp jab, left hook, and what might be the best head kick in the division, has led him to win countless fights and countless fans. Whittaker might legitimately be the classiest guy in UFC and has never been known to bad mouth his opponents.

He fights Khamzat Chimaev, a fighter who you would expect to be ranked higher than just twelfth in the division based on the way he is talked about. Don’t get me wrong, Khamzat Chimaev might be the greatest offensive wrestler in UFC history. His ability to seemingly take any fighter down at will is what gained him this aura of invincibility. But, Chimaev’s inactivity in only fighting once a year, and his reputation to miss weight and pull out of fights for mysterious illnesses, has left fans with a bad taste in their mouth. Oh, and the reason why he only fights once a year? Chimaev’s ties to Chechen Dictator Ramzan Kadyrov leave him unable to enter the United States, where a majority of UFC fights are held. Talk about villains.

This fight will be an incredible test for Whittaker, as Chimaev will undoubtably be able to wrestle him to the ground early in the fight. This fight, however, does have a silver lining for all the Whittaker fans out there. Khamzat Chimaev has one very big weakness … Much like the thermal exhaust port in Star Wars’s own Death Star (I know we are trying to keep the theme alive) … Chimaev has a serious issue with his cardio. In his most recent fight against former champ Kamaru Usman, Chimaev gassed out after only the first round of the fight, and struggled into the second and third rounds. Robert Whittaker can take advantage of the fact that this fight is scheduled for a full five rounds, as his best hopes for victory lie in tiring out his opponent.

But that’s not all. A few more fan favorite fighters will be very lucky if they walk out of Etihad Arena with a victory. 

In the featured bout of the night, Aleksander Rakic faces a very tough test against #1 ranked Light Heavyweight contender Magomed Ankalaev, who fans love to hate, as he plays foil to the current champion and two division mega-star Alex Pereira.

Dan Ige, who recently gained a massive following after filling in to fight Diego Lopes on three hours notice at UFC 303, looks primed to lose a fight against England’s Lerone Murphy, who was last seen dispatching another fan favorite veteran in Edson Barboza.

And lastly, Chris Barnett, who fans fell in love with for being a very large man not afraid to throw spinning kicks and do front flips in the cage, opens as one of the cards largest underdogs against Nigeria’s Kennedy Nzechukwu.

But the best part about this sport is … You never know what could happen. 

Jacob Smith

10/23/2024

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