Tag: ilia topuria

Ilia Topuria is ready to accept Max Holloway’s challenge but claims it won’t be much of a challenge at all. He plans on defeating Holloway and sending him to the “back of the line” in terms of featherweight title contention.

Such a thing is very bold to say, considering Holloway’s prowess at 145lbs and his recent exploits in his fight with Justin Gaethje at UFC 300. In case you hadn’t heard, Holloway moved up to 155lbs for the second time in his career to face Gaethje for the BMF title.

Gaethje and Holloway battled it out for five rounds, with ‘Blessed’ landing a stunning knockout over Gaethje with just three seconds left in the final round. Now, Holloway stands on top of the world, and as he’s said: “We got options.”

Ilia Topuria is ready to face Max Holloway

Making good on his previous plans, Holloway was successful in his battle with Gaethje and made good on his word to call out Ilia Topuria after the fight.

Topuria has now accepted this challenge but has some very bold words for the title challenger, claiming that he is excited to send Holloway back to the bottom of the totem pole.

“It’s clear to me that my next fight is against Max Holloway,” Ilia Topuria told ESPN Deportes. “Congratulations, and enjoy tonight, but after fighting me, he will have to go back in the line”

Currently undefeated and riding a 7-0 streak in the UFC, Topuria claimed the throne with a spectacular victory over Alexander Volkanovski. Upon his ascent up the ranks, though, Topuria never had to test himself against Holloway. It will surely be his biggest challenge since Volkanovski himself, and certainly a frightening endeavor, considering how great ‘Blessed’ looked at UFC 300.

Do you think Ilia Topuria defeats Max Holloway?

Max Holloway knows he and Ilia Topuria will fight eventually.

Holloway is set to move up to lightweight at UFC 300 to face Justin Gaethje for the BMF title on Saturday night. It’s an intriguing matchup and the Hawaiian has confidence he can beat Gaethje.

If Holloway does beat Gaethje, he could get a title shot at lightweight, but many hope he returns to featherweight to face Ilia Topuria, but ‘Blessed’ says that the fight will happen eventually.

“This whole Ilia [Topuria] talk, a lot of people just harassing me like ‘oh my god he’s gonna kill Max’. Brother, when I was Ilia’s age I think I had a title defense already. I was fighting for like 3 titles already. Calm down bro, when the time comes and it happens, it’s gonna happen and I look forward to that,” Max Holloway said to Demetrious Johnson.

Holloway is only 32 and became the undisputed champion in 2017 when he was 26, while Topuria is currently 27, so the Hawaiian knows the two of them have plenty of time to fight eventually.

Max Holloway eager to share Octagon with Justin Gaethje

Max Holloway is fighting for the BMF title, but he also is excited to face Justin Gaethje, as he knows both of them are future Hall of Famers.

The fight was sky-high expectations to be entertaining from start-to-finish, and Holloway expects that to be the case as he calls it a Hall of Fame fight.

“I really want my undisputed (featherweight) title back. Then, maybe, we can come back up. But I mean, if (UFC matchmakers) give you a (lightweight) title shot right after this one, what do you say? First things first, and that’s Justin Gaethje. I’m locked in on him because I got to get through him to see the future… At the end of the day, he’s a future Hall of Famer,” Holloway said to UFC.com. “I feel like I might be a future Hall of Famer. This is a Hall of Fame fight. And if you want to be the best guy, you’ve got to fight the best guys.”

Holloway enters the fight coming off a knockout win over Korean Zombie.