Fights don’t get much better on paper than the upcoming title bout between UFC featherweight champion Ilia Topuria and challenger Max Holloway.
It’s been one heck of a year for star-making — and -boosting — performances in the UFC. Two of the biggest spotlight snatchers in that category are the men headlining UFC 308 on Oct. 26 in Abu Dhabi.
Before Holloway continued his remarkable run at UFC 300 in April, Topuria captured gold by making good on his promise of putting away all-time great Alexander Volkanovski in February at UFC 298. Topuria pushed his record to 15-0 with a second-round knockout of Volkanovski. A world tour quickly followed for “El Matador” and anticipation built for his first defense of the belt.
Fast forward to Holloway’s bout at lightweight against then-BMF champion Justin Gaethje. As a justified underdog, “Blessed” performed well beyond expectations, picking apart Gaethje throughout their allotted five rounds before landing the be-all and end-all of buzzer-beating knockouts. Already a superstar, Holloway catapulted his status to new levels and had a world of options ahead of him.
Ultimately, Holloway opted to attempt to reclaim the UFC featherweight title he once held and set his sights on the 27-year-old Topuria. The path to book their much-anticipated clash took a bit longer than expected due to some teases of BMF implications added in, however only the official UFC championship will be on the line.
That’s fine with Topuria. He just hopes he’s presented with the same energy he saw at UFC 300.
“I don’t give a f**k about that belt, to be honest,” Topuria said on Uncrowned’s “The Ariel Helwani Show.” “He calls himself the BMF, so we already know who is the world champion, and in the first seconds of the fight [at UFC 308], we’re going to find out who is the real BMF because I already challenged him in the first 10 seconds of the fight. I’m going to point at the ground and we’ll see what he’s going to do.
“I will be in the middle of the Octagon, so let’s bang, bro. If you’re ready, I was born ready. First 10 seconds, I will stay there. I want to give the best and most exciting 10 seconds in UFC history to the fans. They deserve it, and if he stays in the middle, I promise I’m going to knock him out. I’m going to take his head off. I prepared myself for that.”
One of the wildest things about Holloway’s iconic finish of Gaethje was that it wasn’t the first time he’s incited violence in that fashion. UFC 199 in June 2016 was our first glimpse at that late-fight flurry when “Blessed” slung leather at Ricardo Lamas before earning a unanimous decision win. In 2023, Arnold Allen did his best to come out the victor in a similar final-second exchange with Holloway but also came up short.
The Holloway brawl is a fight closer, not an opener. Therefore, Topuria isn’t so sure his challenge to start hot will be met.
“We’ll find out if he’s a BMF or a p**** like everyone that’s predicting that I’m going to lose to Max Holloway,” Topuria said. “All the UFC fighters, I watch the predictions, they’re predicting that he’s going to beat me. All the bums, f**k you, everyone. After I’m gonna knock him out, don’t even tell me hello if you see me around. F**k yourself, everyone.
“They’re all snakes in the grass, because they see you around then they’re acting like fans, but when they have to do something, ‘No, Max is going to beat him.’ Maybe they feel a little bit of envy.”
Although UFC 308 will be the first time Topuria and Holloway meet in the Octagon, it won’t be their first time going face-to-face — at least virtually.
The pair of talented combatants did a dual interview with broadcast partner ESPN ahead of UFC 308 that led to plenty of banter and good old-fashioned armchair psychology takes. From Topuria’s perspective, Holloway never wanted to fight him, hence why the bout’s materialization took the time it did.
“I feel he’s a little bit distracted, scared, I don’t know,” Topuria said. “He doesn’t seem to be the same way with me than the other opponents he had in the past.
“When I was talking to him, it was all the time like, ‘Max, do you think you’re going to win?’ [He’d say,] ‘Oh, we’re going to find out Oct. 26.’ Every conversation was, ‘We’re going to find out Oct. 26.’ I already know what’s going to happen Oct. 26. I don’t need to wait until that date.
“He was avoiding to fight me all the time,” Topuria continued. “He said something like, ‘I said to the UFC I want the easiest fight, a fight with Ilia Topuria.’ That’s a lie. A challenger never chooses fights. Never. I’m the champion. I choose who I want to fight next and I said I want to fight Max Holloway. They told me he’s asking to stay in the 155 division to fight with [Michael] Chandler. I don’t know, he asked about many, many guys, and when they told him, ‘No, Max. You have to fight with Ilia because he wants to fight you.’ Finally, he had to accept it. In the beginning, he was trying really, really hard to avoid me.”
If Holloway can recapture the featherweight title in Abu Dhabi, he’ll become only the second to do so at that weight in UFC history. The first was none other than the man he defeated to start his reign in June 2017, Jose Aldo.
Even with how long he’s been around, Holloway is still only 32 years old with tons of accomplishments under his belt. Despite the former champ having only suffered one knockdown in his 33-fight career, Topuria knows he’ll be the first to knock out his Hawaiian counterpart.
The Gaethje fight is at the top of several pundits’ lists as one of MMA’s best of 2024, but not Topuria’s. He’d say UFC 308 has a chance to take that spot. He just doesn’t think it will last long enough.
“I was really bored during the whole [Gaethje] fight,” Topuria said. “Watching two guys fighting inside the Octagon, running around during five rounds. But the last 10 seconds were really exciting. For me, for the fans, for everyone, but I didn’t see any technique behind that knockout and he knows that. It was like an exchange in the bar and he gets the knockout, but it wasn’t because he was looking for the knockout.
“Maybe [it’s] the Knockout of the Year because the only good thing about that fight was the last 10 seconds. How you can say that was the Fight of the Year, no f**king way. That wasn’t the Fight of the Year, no way. The Fight of the Year was me against Volkanovski.”
