Tag: Max Holloway

Max Holloway Answers Ilia Topuria’s “First 10 Seconds” Challenge at UFC 308

Max Holloway, Ilia TopuriaBMF titleholder Max Holloway doesn’t seem keen on accepting Ilia Topuria’s invitation for a wild slugfest in the opening…

Max Holloway, Ilia Topuria

BMF titleholder Max Holloway doesn’t seem keen on accepting Ilia Topuria’s invitation for a wild slugfest in the opening seconds of their UFC 308 headliner.

Holloway and Topuria will square off in the UFC 308 main event on Saturday in Abu Dhabi. Topuria will make his first UFC featherweight title defense against the former champion Holloway, who returns to 145lbs after finishing Justin Gaethje at UFC 300.

Tensions have ramped up between Holloway and Topuria in recent weeks leading up to one of the most highly anticipated fights of the year. Topuria has his eyes on the fastest knockout in UFC history against Holloway, who has never lost by TKO/KO in his professional career.

Topuria recently pitched an early sequence at UFC 308 similar to Holloway’s knockout finish he earned at UFC 300. But, Holloway believes Topuria doesn’t understand the purpose of the ‘point down, and throw’ strategy he took in the closing seconds against Gaethje.

Max Holloway Questions Ilia Topuria’s “Boxing IQ” After Recent Challenge

In a recent interview with MMA Fighting, Holloway scoffed at Topuria’s promise of an early slugfest at UFC 308.

“The point down moment — I don’t think he gets the gist of it,” Holloway responded to Topuria. “At the end of the day the point down, it’s something that you do towards the ending of the fight. If something is going good, if the fight is entertaining or you’re winning, you give the other guy a shot. The moment is the moment for a reason…

“The belt is called the ‘Blessed Man Forever’ or what you guys want to call ‘the baddest mother ‘effer,’” Holloway continued. “If the belt was the ‘DMF,’ the dumbest mother ‘effer, then maybe I would get sucked into it. It’s far from that. Like what I told you, and I told him, he talks about being a boxer — that’s not very much boxer IQ’ish of him, but we’ll see what happens.” (h/t MMA Fighting)

If Holloway or Topuria breaks Jorge Masvidal’s fastest knockout record (0:05 vs. Ben Askren), it’ll be one of the most jaw-dropping moments in mixed martial arts history. But, both fighters have proven their power in recent fights, especially after Topuria finished Alexander Volkanovski at UFC 298.

Topuria vs. Holloway headlines one of the biggest cards of 2024, but fans shouldn’t feel overly hopeful about seeing a phone-booth brawl as they take the center of the Octagon.

Ilia Topuria’s Custom Shorts For UFC 308 Get Rave Reviews

Ilia Topuria is looking to make a statement when he does battle with Max Holloway at UFC 308 next weekend. But he already appears set to be making one with what he will be wearing to the cage! Topuria’s custom-made fight shorts for the event have been revealed in a post on social media by […]

Continue Reading Ilia Topuria’s Custom Shorts For UFC 308 Get Rave Reviews at MMA News.

Ilia Topuria is looking to make a statement when he does battle with Max Holloway at UFC 308 next weekend. But he already appears set to be making one with what he will be wearing to the cage!

Topuria’s custom-made fight shorts for the event have been revealed in a post on social media by the @ClubDeLasMMA account.

The shorts are red with the designs in the championship gold that include a bull — a reference to Topuria’s nationality and “El Matador” nickname — the Venum snake, a sun and more.

The shorts’ appearance on social media brought about significant praise for its look.

This fight will mark Topuria’s first attempt at defending the UFC featherweight championship. He won the title earlier this year at UFC 298, defeating Alexander Volkanovski.

Holloway, meanwhile, became interim featherweight champion with a win over Anthony Pettis at UFC 206 before unifying the title with a win over then-champion José Aldo at UFC 212. “Blessed” dropped the title to Volkanovski at UFC 245.

This fight marks Holloway’s first since his legendary encounter with Justin Gaethje at UFC 300, where he scored a last-second knockout to win the BMF title.

Continue Reading Ilia Topuria’s Custom Shorts For UFC 308 Get Rave Reviews at MMA News.

Former UFC Champion Recalls How Max Holloway Beat Him At His Own Game: ‘That’s What That Feels Like!’

With how long fight fans have been watching Max Holloway compete at the highest level, it can be easy to forget that he’s still only 32-years old. “Blessed” is looking to reclaim the featherweight title later this month at UFC 308 when he faces Ilia Topuria in Abu Dhabi. The first time that he got […]

Continue Reading Former UFC Champion Recalls How Max Holloway Beat Him At His Own Game: ‘That’s What That Feels Like!’ at MMA News.

With how long fight fans have been watching Max Holloway compete at the highest level, it can be easy to forget that he’s still only 32-years old. “Blessed” is looking to reclaim the featherweight title later this month at UFC 308 when he faces Ilia Topuria in Abu Dhabi.

The first time that he got his hands on UFC gold was all the way back in 2016 at UFC 206 in Toronto, Canada where he faced Anthony Pettis for the interim title. A former lightweight champion, Pettis had recently moved down to 145-pounds where he submitted Charles Oliveira in his previous fight.

Holloway earned the tenth win of his current streak in this fight, stopping Pettis in the third round after hurting him to the body to close out another great performance from “Blessed”. He would then go on to unify the belts against José Aldo in Brazil the following year.

In a recent appearance on the MightyCast with Demetrious Johnson, Pettis reflected on his experience fighting Holloway eight years ago. At his peak, “Showtime” was known for his devastating striking, including a body kick finish over Donald “Cowboy” Cerrone from back in 2013.

He said that after Holloway hit him with a body kick of his own, he finally understood what he had been putting opponents through all those years.

“He’s a beast bro like fighting that dude, like you have to be on your A-game. First time I ever got finished in a fight was Max Holloway. TKO. He hit me with a body kick, first time I was like, ‘That’s what that feels like…’ He hit me and I was like, ‘Oh s***!,’ and then he teed off on me and he got the title and like big up to him man, great fighter.”

Continue Reading Former UFC Champion Recalls How Max Holloway Beat Him At His Own Game: ‘That’s What That Feels Like!’ at MMA News.

Former UFC Champion Names MMA Mount Rushmore With No Conor McGregor, Khabib Or Jon Jones

There’s always going to be talk of who the greatest MMA fighters of all time are but this year more than most, it has been a particularly relevant conversation. Whether it’s due to the discourse surrounding Jon Jones and the pound-for-pound rankings or the retirement of Demetrious Johnson, it’s been a consistent topic in recent […]

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There’s always going to be talk of who the greatest MMA fighters of all time are but this year more than most, it has been a particularly relevant conversation. Whether it’s due to the discourse surrounding Jon Jones and the pound-for-pound rankings or the retirement of Demetrious Johnson, it’s been a consistent topic in recent months.

One of the latest fighters to weigh in with his own take on the discussion is the former UFC featherweight champion, Max Holloway. “Blessed” not only comes in with a fairly unique Mount Rushmore list but explains why they all deserve their spots.

In an interview with Stake ahead of his huge main event clash with Ilia Topuria at UFC 308, Holloway left out some big names but justified why that is the case.

“I would say Demetrious (Johnson) is definitely up there, Anderson Silva is there too, GSP and then you have to give it to Forrest Griffin because he helped put the UFC on the map. That TUF Finale on Spike TV was huge for the UFC, so those are my guys for sure. Those four guys are absolute animals.”

Holloway went on to talk about how, in his opinion, Johnson does not get the respect that he deserves just because he reigned supreme in the smallest of the men’s weight classes.

“When you talk about Demetrious Johnson, it seems insane to me how he is viewed just because he fought at 125 lbs. This 125-er would absolutely whoop your ass. A lot of bigger guys think they can hang with him, you get these influencers and social media personalities who go around screaming, ‘I’m 260 bro, he’s 125lbs. Brother, Demetrious Johnson would take your ACL and your arm home and then he would come back and cut your head off if he wanted to. You could do nothing about it, he’s such a beast.”

The BMF titleholder added that he has a lot of respect for the greatest welterweight and middleweight of all time, both of which made his list.

“I wish I was fighting during the time that GSP was around, I would have loved to have shared the Octagon with him. He’s one of the greats, as was Anderson Silva – he was such a beast.”

Holloway signed off by explaining the reasoning behind his picks, detailing his own specific criteria and why that eliminates his long time rival, Daniel Cormier.

“Some people might disagree with my Mount Rushmore, but I’m looking at the way these fighters carried themselves inside and outside of the Octagon, how they were ambassadors for the sport and for the company as well. ‘DC’ is probably going to be mad that he’s not on my Mount Rushmore of MMA, but I don’t like the way he carries himself out of the UFC. He thinks he’s the ‘Daddest Man on the Planet’, he is delusional.”

Continue Reading Former UFC Champion Names MMA Mount Rushmore With No Conor McGregor, Khabib Or Jon Jones at MMA News.

Ilia Topuria Eyes Record Held By Jorge Masvidal At UFC 308

UFC Featherweight Champion Ilia Topuria wants to emphatically establish superiority over Max Holloway next weekend in Abu Dhabi. The importance of following up a title win with a successful defense is often a major part of the lead-up to a new champ’s first attempt at batting away a challenger. For some, that pressure might show. […]

Continue Reading Ilia Topuria Eyes Record Held By Jorge Masvidal At UFC 308 at MMA News.

UFC Featherweight Champion Ilia Topuria wants to emphatically establish superiority over Max Holloway next weekend in Abu Dhabi.

The importance of following up a title win with a successful defense is often a major part of the lead-up to a new champ’s first attempt at batting away a challenger.

For some, that pressure might show. In that regard, Topuria is not ‘some’.

“El Matador” has been his usual confident self ahead of his upcoming pay-per-view main event opposite Max Holloway at UFC 308 on Oct. 26. That’s perhaps not a surprise given how he backed up his pre-fight talk with a destructive knockout of Alexander Volkanovski.

But based on the predictions he made during an appearance on Monday’s episode of The Ariel Helwani Show on Uncrowned, Topuria could have a tougher time living up to his remarks come fight night at Etihad Arena.

The Georgian-Spaniard has long expressed his belief that “Blessed” won’t escape Abu Dhabi without the first knockout loss of his career being added to his record.

Now, Topuria is even shooting for Jorge Masvidal’s fastest-KO record, which came when he slept Ben Askren with a knee just five seconds into their showdown at UFC 239 in 2019.

“There is no chance for Max. Forget about it. The only thing I’m praying for every day is I want him to show up, because I’m going to do the rest,” Topuria said. “We already know who is the world champion. We’re going to find out that I am the BMF also.

“I will be there in the middle of the Octagon in the first 10 seconds. … I want to have the fastest knockout in UFC history also, with my hands,” Topuria continued. “Jorge has it with the knee, I want to do it with the hands. … If he stays in the middle in the first 10 seconds of the fight, we’re going to see the fastest knockout in UFC history.”

Though not set to be officially on the line, talk of Holloway’s symbolic BMF title has been prominent in the build-up to next weekend’s PPV headliner.

Should he deliver on his promise to offer a stand-and-bang scenario to “Blessed” à la UFC 300 and emerge from such an exchange with his hand raised, perhaps the masses will get behind “El Matador” and his replica BMF belt.

Continue Reading Ilia Topuria Eyes Record Held By Jorge Masvidal At UFC 308 at MMA News.

Topuria Reaffirms Plans To ‘Point The Octagon’ In First 10 Seconds Against Holloway At UFC 308

Ilia Topuria recently doubled down on his intention to challenge Max Holloway in a striking battle from the opening bell of their highly anticipated clash at UFC 308. “El Matador” is poised to defend his UFC featherweight title for the first time against Holloway on October 26 at the Etihad Arena in Abu Dhabi, United […]

Continue Reading Topuria Reaffirms Plans To ‘Point The Octagon’ In First 10 Seconds Against Holloway At UFC 308 at MMA News.

Ilia Topuria recently doubled down on his intention to challenge Max Holloway in a striking battle from the opening bell of their highly anticipated clash at UFC 308. “El Matador” is poised to defend his UFC featherweight title for the first time against Holloway on October 26 at the Etihad Arena in Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates.

Last week, Topuria and Holloway engaged in a fiery interview with ESPN, during which the reigning 145-pound champion donned a replica of the BMF title on his shoulder. He boldly dared “Blessed” to bring the same ferocity he displayed in landing the buzzer-beater knockout of Justin Gaethje at UFC 300 in the first 10 seconds of their upcoming showdown.

During a recent appearance on The Ariel Helwani Show, “El Matador” underscored his desire to entice the reigning BMF titleholder to a fierce exchange of punches right in the center of the Octagon within the first 10 seconds of their bout at UFC 308. The undefeated Spaniard confidently asserted that he would deliver the most electrifying initial moments of any fight in UFC history.

“He calls himself the BMF, but we already know who’s the world champion. In the first 10 seconds of the fight, we’re going to find out who’s the real BMF because I already challenged him. In the first 10 seconds, I’m gonna point to 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’m gonna point to the middle of the Octagon, and I will stay there. I wanna give the best and most exciting 10 seconds in UFC history to the fans.”

Topuria went on to voice some doubt about whether “Blessed” would accept his challenge to trade blows right off the bat but remained unwavering in his belief in his knockout power. He confidently stated that if Holloway chooses to stand and bang with him, it’s only a matter of time before he puts him to sleep.

“If he stays in the middle, I’m gonna knock him out, I’m gonna take his head off. I have prepared myself for that too… I don’t know, we’ll see. He’s calling himself the BMF, that’s one of the things we’ll find out—if he’s the BMF or if he’s the p*ssy like everyone who is predicting that I’m going to lose to Max Holloway.”

You can watch his comments here:

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