Leading into UFC 308, ‘El Matador’ Ilia Topuria shared some trash talk against ‘Blessed’ Max Holloway. Once the cage door locked, the Georgian-Spanish athlete was able to earn a knockout win against the former champion to defend his title. Afterward, the two exchanged some discussion in the center of the octagon.
Max Holloway Reveals Post-Fight Chat with Ilia Topuria
After getting knocked out, ‘Blessed’ took some time to speak to the media in spite of his championship loss. The Hawaiian athlete holds the record for most significant strikes landed in UFC history, but was unable to out-strike the highly dangerous Ilia Topuria. ‘El Matador‘ now has knockout wins over Alexander Volkanovski and Max Holloway, two pound-for-pound greats.
Speaking to the media, Max Holloways revealed what was said in their post-fight exchange. He said:
“I just told him congrats. You know, he was telling me I’m a legend. You know, all that talk that he does I think he just does it for you guys, you know. He seems like a really good — cool guy. So at the end of the day, he’s being nice, you know, telling me I was a legend, telling me he watched my career coming up, and he takes a lot of inspiration, him and his brother. His brother is nice and cool.”
On the trash talk, Holloway understood. He added:
“So it is what it is, you know. It’s a media game. That’s the way he wants to play it. That’s the way he plays it. But behind the scenes, he’s a cool guy.”
Coming off of the first knockout loss of his career it would be prudent for Holloway to take some time off from the sport and return after a hiatus, which will likely see him move up a weight class to 155. Ilia Topuria has also expressed interest in moving up a weight division to try and become a double champ in the UFC.
