This Saturday in the UFC 308 main event from the Etihad Arena in Abu Dhabi, Ilia Topuria looked to defend his featherweight title against the former king of the division, Max Holloway.
When this fight was announced, it was instantly highlighted as one of the best matchups of the year and the anticipation grew palpable the closer to the fight.
Although both Ilia Topuria and Max Holloway showcased respect for each other from the outset, the feud grew more bitter, especially on fight week during the press conference this past Thursday.
Ilia Topuria shockingly knocks out Max Holloway in UFC 308 main event
After claiming all week that he was going to come out in the opening seconds of the UFC 308 main event and point at the ground to initiate a brawl, ‘El Matador’ stuck to his word and came out and invited Holloway into the center of the Octagon.
Smartly, ‘Blessed’ brushed away his invite and began imitating a Matador. Shortly after, Topuria surprisingly shot for and landed a takedown, giving Holloway something to think about for the rest of the fight.
However, Holloway grew into the first round and began landing with signature volume, keeping the champion on the end of his jab.
After a tentative first round from Topuria, he came out in round two sharper and landed with more activity, continuing to land the leg kick at will but Holloway was going nowhere.
Just over a minute into the third round, ‘El Matador’ landed a huge right hand that seemingly rocked Holloway. Smelling blood, the Spaniard stepped on the gas and continued to land some hellacious punches that backed ‘Blessed’ up against the cage.
The 27-year-old then landed a huge left hook, putting Holloway to the ground and subsequently reigning down ground and pound. Marc Goddard stepped in and saved Holloway from taking any more unnecessary damage.
Ilia Topuria vows to give Alexander Volkanovski a title fight rematch
Capping off an incredibly successful year Topuria will likely take the rest of the year off and enjoy the Christmas holiday with his family.
Number three ranked featherweight contender, Diego Lopes weighed in as a backup for the main event, but of course wasn’t needed.
Despite doing so, he will likely have to wait for ‘El Matador’ to rematch Alexander Volkanovski next, as ‘The Great’ entered the cage after Topuria’s emphatic win.
“I want to have both of them. Right now, I don’t want to fight with anyone. Listen, man, we’re going to do it again, you deserve that, you’re the man. He defended his title several times, if someone deserves it, it’s him, so let’s go, brother,” Topuria told Volkanovski.
- HUGE CALLOUT: Shara ‘Bullet’ Magomedov calls out former champion following one-of-a-kind walk-off KO at UFC 308