1. Oliveiras takedowns and striking have improved so much since he fought Max where he lost by first round injury its crazy. I don't think Max can easily finish Oliveira early nor do I think he can out work him, his best chance is to play punching bag and rely on his chin, do his best to defend takedowns and hope to God Charles tires before he kills him, then pick up the pace at some point in round 3 as Charles may fade and then Max can look for a late TKO. Perhaps attack the body early and often to help facilitate the slowing down of Charles. If Charles can find takedowns U give Max basically no chance. 70/30 Oliveira
2. Poirier, bigger, stronger, hits way harder and is the better boxer both offensively and defensively. Poirier showed us vs Max the first time he has a tank to go 5 rounds too, Max has if anything looked to be slowing down a bit where Poirier hasn't show signs of slowing down. Poirier 70/30
3. Gaethje, similar to the Oliveira fight minus the takedowns and Gaethjes gas tank failing is more reliable. Gaethje is going to break down Max's legs something fierce and when they trade leather...my God does Gaethje hit way damn harder, Poirier had Max stumbling with his power years ago, I think the odds if Gaethje or Oliveira knocking him out now is high. We've never seen someone go to town on Holloways legs either. In a 3 round fight irs really hard to see Max winning because Gaethjes got 2 rounds of good asswhooping in him. 3 rounds Gaethje 70/30, 5 rounds Gaethje 60/40.
4. Islam Makhachev, I don't think Max can keep Islam off him and Islam won't gas. Max lacks the grappling off his back and the strength and size to defend the takedowns. Islam 90/10
5. Michael Chandler, this to me is perhaps the most winnable fight for Max. If it's 3 rounds I'd still favor Chandler, round 1 he will land shots on Max that might finish him and Chandler can probably land takedowns and pot shot effectively in round 2 as he slows well enough to still win it, by round 3 if Max doesn't get knocked out I think he would start to take over. 60/40 Chandler in 3 rounds 60/40 Max in 5.
6. Beneil Dariush, one of the other most winnable fights Dariushs gastank is a little suspect, his takedowns aren't that strong and he is a heavy handed southpaw with a big left hand and left leg but besides that he doesn't have much else standing. I'd favor Max 60/40
7. Rafael Fiziev, you're wrong, Fiziev has pretty damn big stopping power and he's by no means a small LW, the dude is the size if Melvin Guillard. In muay thai Fiziev was known for his big KO power in his hands and he has the cardio to go 3 rounds, the technical superiority, speed, defense and power advantage standing. I don't like this fight for Max, he's going to have to rely on his chin and hope Fiziev gasses something bad. 70/30 in 3 or 5 rounds for Fiziev
8. Gamrot, I think Gamrot can mix things up on the feet and scoring takedowns to secure rounds and outwork Max over 3 or 5 rounds, 70/30 Gamrot
9. Arman I think Arman Is a good enough striker with a speed and power advantage. His gas tank is good, he should be able to score takedowns and even if Max tries to keep Arman at the end if his punches Armans kicking game is too good. Arman 75/25
10. Damir, he's faster than Max, better boxing, defensively amazing, 4in reach advantage, great control of fights range and pace, strong cardio and slept on offensive wrestling Damir 80/20
Conor will never cut to 155lbs again unless it's a Floyd type fight so no one cares but I'd favor Max over Conor nowadays. I think Guram and Jalin would be trouble for Max too, those guys are way bigger, hit harder, fight better long than Max does. I have Max losing to a handful of Bellator LWs. I actually think Max has interesting fights at 145lbs at this point, Yair is nothing special and he struggled in that one and Max got melted by Volk in their 3rd fight, I don't think it's as simple as Volk and Yair improved a ton, I think Max is slowing down some.
