Coming face-to-face for the first time since their booking for a massive symbolic BMF title fight at UFC 300 in April, former undisputed featherweight champion, Max Holloway jokingly tried to pants former interim lightweight gold holder, Justin Gaethje during their first face-off ahead of their clash.
Holloway, the current number one ranked featherweight contender, is slated to make his sophomore lightweight divisional walk in April, in the form of his BMF championship showdown with Arizona native, Gaethje at UFC 300.
In the midst of a two-fight winning run at 145 pounds, Hawaiian favorite, Holloway most recently turned in a dominant knockout win over former title challenger, Chan Sung Jung back in August, face-planting the South Korean in his retirement.
As for Gaethje, the former interim champion has been sidelined since July of last year, where he scored a thunderous second round high-kick KO win over common-foe, Dustin Poirier, landing the BMF championship title.
Justin Gaethje faces off with Max Holloway ahead of UFC 300
And sharing the stage at a pre-fight Q&A session ahead of UFC 300 in April – Holloway and Gaethje faced-off for the first time since their booking, eventually – after the former attempted to briefly pants the symbolic belt winner, in front of Aljamain Sterling.
Max Holloway pretended to pants Justin Gaethje at the first faceoff for their #UFC300 BMF title fight. pic.twitter.com/yTFKciHYe4
— MMA Junkie (@MMAJunkie) February 17, 2024
Staking their respective claims to land the main event bracket of a much-anticipated UFC 300 card – which has still yet to receive it’s officially headlining bout, Gaethje x Holloway has been predicted as receiving just that billing by play-by-play commentator, Jon Anik – who suggested the BMF title fight is his frontrunner to close the flagship show in April.
Who wins at UFC 300 in April: Justin Gaethje or Max Holloway?
Vicente Luque | Photo by Al Powers/Zuffa LLC via Getty Images
Vicente Luque will now face Joaquin Buckley in the co-main event of UFC Atlantic City on March 30, multiple people with knowledge of the situation confirmed to MMA Fighting.
UFC CEO Dana White originally announced that Luque (22-9-1) would be competing against Sean Brady that night at the Boardwalk Hall, however the welterweight match was never a done deal since Brady was still recovering from an injury when offered the bout.
This will be Luque’s third attempt to compete after back-to-back matches failed to come to fruition. Most recently, Ian Machado Garry withdrew from their Dec. 16 clash at UFC 296 due to illness. The Brazilian was last seen in action in August, defeating Rafael dos Anjos in a five-round main event.
Buckley (17-6) enters the biggest fight of his career after winning two in a row over Andre Fialho and Alex Morono in 2023. The 29-year-old talent has won seven of 11 bouts under the UFC banner, with five knockouts and four performance bonuses to his credit.
UFC Atlantic City is headlined by a flyweight showdown between Erin Blanchfield and Manon Fiorot.
Mike Heck and Damon Martin contributed to this report.
The athletes competing on Saturday’s UFC 298 fifth card officially weighed in on Friday in Anaheim, California.
The event takes place on Saturday at the Honda Center and is headlined by a featherweight title bout between champion Alexander Volkanovski and undefeated challenger Ilia Topuria.
Volkanovski was the first to weigh-in. He came in at 144.5 pounds. Topuria was the second fighter to step on the scales and also weighed 144.5.
In the co-main event, former middleweight champion Robert Whittaker takes on Paulo Costa. Also on the fight card, welterweight standout Ian Machado Garry faces Geoff Neal and former two-division champion Henry Cejudo returns in a clash with Merab Dvalishvili.
The heavyweight bout between Marcos Rogerio de Lima and Justin Tafa was cancelled due to Tafa suffering an injury.
UFC 298 Weigh-In Video
UFC 298 Official Weigh-In Results
MAIN CARD (Pay-per-view, 10 p.m. ET)
Alexander Volkanovski (144.5) vs. Ilia Topuria (144.5)
Paulo Costa (185.5) vs. Robert Whittaker (185.5)
Ian Machado Garry (170.5) vs. Geoff Neal (170.5)
Henry Cejudo (135) vs. Merab Dvalishvili (135)
Anthony Hernandez (185.5) vs. Roman Kopylov (185)
PRELIMINARY CARD (ESPN, 8 p.m. ET)
Mackenzie Dern (116) vs. Amanda Lemos (115.5)
Marcos Rogerio de Lima vs. Justin Tafa – cancelled due to a Tafa injury
Rinya Nakamura (135.5) vs. Carlos Vera (135.5)
Zhang Mingyang (204.5) vs. Brendson Ribeiro (205.5)
Alexander Volkanovski and Ilia Topuria face off | Photo by Chris Unger/Zuffa LLC via Getty Images
Finally, UFC delivers a good one!
After a smattering of cards from the world’s leading MMA promotion to start the year, UFC 298 is the first great event of the year (unless you’re counting Dogfight Wild Tournament Second Impact). Headlined by a featherweight title fight between Alexander Volkanovski and Ilia Topuria, there are also a host of other great matchups as the UFC season begins in earnest.
As always, all odds are courtesy of our friends at DraftKings Sportsbook.
Photo by Chris Unger/Zuffa LLC via Getty Images
Straight Bets
Alexander Volkanovski -125
I did a full write-up on this fight so I won’t dive too deep here, but the short version is that this is a matchup between veteran savvy and youthful exuberance, and I think the old dog still has some juice left. Volkanovski is definitely losing a step, but the style matchup lines up nicely for him and I think reports of his diminishing chin have been overblown. By contrast, this is a huge leap up for Topuria, and while he could surprise us, I’m backing the known commodity.
Henry Cejudo +180
I think Merab Dvalishvili is probably the best bantamweight in the world, but this is a tough style matchup for him. Dvalishvili is all pressure and pace, but it’s the wrestling that ties the room together, and Henry Cejudo is more capable of shutting that down than perhaps anyone else in the division. It wouldn’t shock me if Dvalishvili was able to eke out a decision with clinching and pace (a la Jose Aldo), but if he can’t get the wrestling going, Merab is still a work in progress on the feet and the advantage shifts to Cejudo. This is a big price for him given his stylistic benefits.
Photo by Chris Unger/Zuffa LLC via Getty Images
Prop Bets
Robert Whittaker To Win By Decision +120
Whittaker takes on Paulo Costa in the co-main event, in a matchup of two men who are very likely past their primes. Fortunately, it’s not by much for either man so the fight should still be fun, but it’s one that Whittaker is extremely likely to win. Costa is a charge forward, head down, bull of a fighter, and Whittaker remains excellent at playing the matador. His footwork and precision should keep Costa from ever getting into rhythm while Whittaker simply picks his shots and racks up points. Maybe Costa gets frustrated and overextends himself, but Whittaker has not finished an opponent since 2017, and Costa has only ever been finished by Israel Adesanya. This should go to the cards and be pretty easy to score.
Photo by Chris Unger/Zuffa LLC via Getty Images
Parlay of the Week
Brendson Ribeiro +102 + Danny Barlow -205
Last week I ran with a parlay featuring two UFC debutants who both competed on the most recent season of Contender Series and who I graded in the same tier in my review of the show. Carlos Prates and Bolaji Oki did great work in cashing that parlay, and as the saying goes: If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it.
Both Brendson Ribeiro and Danny Barlow were “Defense Is Optional” talents on Contender Series, with potent offensive firepower and a general disregard for their own safety. That makes them volatile fighters, but damn fun ones. Barlow should fare fine against Josh Quinluin, but Ribeiro will have a more difficult time with the equally get-or-get-got kind of fighter, Zhang Mingyang.
Parlay these two bets together for +108 odds.
Photo by Jeff Bottari/Zuffa LLC via Getty Images
Long Shot of the Week
Marcos Rogerio de Lima To Win By Submission +550
Rogerio de Lima is a man who likes to swang and bang, but he’s also a BJJ black belt. Moreover, Justin Tafa is not the best fighter in the world, but he’s very tough and he throws heat on the feet. The best path forward for RDL, by far, is to charge out, take Tafa down, and pursue the arm-triangle choke he favors, as Tafa won’t really have much defense for it. And if you’re looking to juice this prop up even more, you can take Rogerio de Lima to win by submission in Round 1 at +900 as 14 of his 21 career wins have come in the first.
Wrap Up
Prop bets have been killing us this year. Keep that in mind as I intentionally avoided most of those this week. Really paring things down until we can catch fire.
Until next week, enjoy the fights, good luck, and gamble responsibly!
All information in this article is provided to readers of MMA Fighting for entertainment, news, and amusement purposes only. It is the responsibility of the reader to learn and abide by online gambling laws in their region before placing any online sports betting wagers.
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Photo by Chris Unger/Zuffa LLC via Getty Images 
Photo by Chris Unger/Zuffa LLC via Getty Images 
Photo by Chris Unger/Zuffa LLC via Getty Images 
Photo by Jeff Bottari/Zuffa LLC via Getty Images
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