Max Holloway wants you to put some more respect on "Old Man Volk's" name.
On Friday, Holloway gave his official UFC 333 main event prediction ahead of Saturday's headliner between champion Alexander Volkanovski and Movsar Evloev. He's siding the current champ and his former opponent.
"With Volkanovski being Volkanovski, I think is a great matchup for him with Volk's biggest concern being damage, taking damage," Holloway said on his YouTube channel. "That's his biggest concern lately. I like Evloev a lot. I know a lot of people keep talking about Movsar's wrestling. It just blows my mind. I know he fought Islam twice, and I know everyone just thinks of the second one, like the first one never happened. Alexander Volkanovski was wrestling with one of the best 155-pound wrestlers in the world. I know Movsar is a beast. He's 20-0, but again Alex Volkanovski is just a different animal. I really think people are sleeping on Alex Volkanovski. I think a lot of people, a lot of fans are still high on Movsar's wrestling that they forgot about the first fight about what Alex did to Islam."
The biggest concern for Volkanovski, according to Holloway, is not a potential discrepancy in wrestling abilities as some might be persuaded to believe. Instead, it boils down to one thing: damage.
"Does he have to worry about Movsar's damage? Yes," Holloway said. "We saw him jab somebody and drop somebody with a jab. He has power. The dude is strong. Is Alex going to play into that? Probably not. I think Alex is just so smart. I think Alex is going to keep away, keep away, jab, jab, jab. If he wants to wrestle, I don't think Alex wrestles with him early on. I think Alex may even make a point to go and wrestle with him in the middle rounds, just to prove, 'I can go and wrestle with this dude or grapple with this dude here.' I think this is a great matchup for Volk. I think he goes out there and lands a lot for 25 minutes. He gets his hand raised in a decision. I'm going Volk here with a decision. I think the world is going to see. I think you guys have to put a little bit more respect on Volkanovski's name. It's going to be a great one."
For what it's worth, Holloway has shared the cage three times with Volkanovski (losing all three fights). Conversely, he has never competed against Evloev.
UFC 333 takes Saturday place at Etihad Arena on Yas Island, Abu Dhabi and streams on Paramount+.
This article originally appeared on MMA Junkie: Max Holloway makes official UFC 333 main event prediction