Ilia Topuria plans on leaving Abu Dhabi with his gold and his ‘O’ intact. Unfortunately, he won’t be taking the BMF title back home to Spain, win or lose.
That’s because Max Holloway’s bragging rights belt won’t be on the line when the two featherweight superstars square off in one of the most anticipated title fights of the year. ‘El Matador’ claimed the 145-pound crown in February with a stunning second-round KO of Alexander Volkanovski. Two months after that, Holloway captured the BMF belt with an epic buzzer-beating knockout of Justin Gaethje at UFC 300 in Las Vegas.
The dueling highlight-reel victories have set the stage for their inevitable clash, but only Topuria’s featherweight title will be up for grabs when the two finally tussle in the UFC 308 headliner on October 26.
“No, the BMF title is not going to be on the line,” Topuria told MMA Junkie. “To be honest, I don’t care. They took that decision and at the end of the day it’s like, when I’m going to beat him he can’t say he’s a BMF or however they want to call him. I’m just concentrating on my title defense and that’s it. I don’t care about anything else.”
Ilia Topuria confirms Max Holloway's BMF belt is NOT on the line at #UFC308 and promises "I will knock him out in the first round." 😳
(via @MikeBohn) pic.twitter.com/q9rGW3pwzE
— MMA Junkie (@MMAJunkie) August 21, 2024
Ilia Topuria Vows to KO Max Holloway at UFC 308
“No doubt about that,” Topuria said. “What makes me so excited about this fight is that no one could knock him out. There’s no way I’m not going to knock him out. I will be the first one to knock him out because every time I watch him fight I’m like, ‘I’m way better than him.’ If you put me with him in kickboxing or boxing, even in a chess match, I beat him. Whatever you want to do, boy, I can beat you.
“I respect Max Holloway. He’s been a great fighter. He gave us great fights. He seems to be a good person. I respect him. But I don’t know, I feel like I’m way better than him everywhere. It’s going to be a complete masterpiece. You will see. I will knock him out in the first round. There is no doubts about that. It’s going to be much easier than with Volkanovski, because I considered Volkanovski is way more difficult matchup for me, and he beat that guy three times.”
Thus far, ‘El Matador’ is perfect in his mixed martial arts career, going 15-0 including wins over Bryce Mitchell, Josh Emmett, and of course, Alexander Volkanovski.
Holloway, on the other hand, has more than double the experience of Topuria with 34 career fights and a solid 26-7 record. Along the way, ‘Blessed’ has scrapped with some of the biggest names in featherweight history—and a few in the lightweight division as well. Conor McGregor, Charles Oliveira, Anthony Pettis, Jose Aldo, Frankie Edgar, Brian Ortega, The Korean Zombie, Dustin Poirier, and Justin Gaethje are just a few of the names that Holloway has squared off with on MMA’s biggest stage.
Will ‘Blessed’ rise to the occasion and once again claim the featherweight crown this fall, or will Topuria continue to reign over the division with an iron fist?
Watch the full interview below:
