Max Holloway doesn’t think Ilia Topuria’s legendary run is as good as it is being made out to be.
On July 19, Max Holloway returns to the Octagon for the first time since his UFC 308 loss to Ilia Topuria when he defends his BMF title against Dustin Poirier in the UFC 318 main event.
Although a large majority of the UFC fanbase assumed ‘Blessed’ would be frustrated when he found out that Topuria was also moving up to lightweight, Holloway admitted that he was the ‘happiest man on earth’ when ‘El Matador’ won the title.
And that is because, the former featherweight champion believes he can earn himself a rematch at the Spaniard with an emphatic performance in Louisiana.
Max Holloway discredits Topuria’s legendary run
Topuria is rapidly becoming one of the biggest stars in the sport having joined an elite group of fighters to win a title in two weight classes after knocking out Charles Oliveira at UFC 317.
Prior to knocking out ‘Do Bronx’, Topuria knocked out Alexander Volkanovski and Holloway back-to-back, putting together one of the most incredible runs in the sport’s history.
Despite that, Holloway has somewhat downplayed Topuria’s impressive run, adding context to his wins over Volkanovski and Oliveira.
“It’s just tough, right. Yeah he beat the names and you can’t deny that, but then when you look, it just sucks when you look at everything that was going on when you look at that Volk fight,” Holloway told ShakMMA.
“Volk was coming off what he (was coming off), that’s kind of crazy, but people just look at the names, they’re not looking at the record, they’re just like ‘Oh Alex was the champ’, and then me and then Charles.
“Charles was on a one fight win streak, at the end of the day, they’re just moments and they’re just names… The man is doing what he’s supposed to do,” he continued.
Could we see a rematch between Topuria and Holloway at lightweight?
After winning the 155lb strap, Topuria faced off with Paddy Pimblett, but Dana White later revealed that fight likely won’t happen next.
The UFC boss also revealed that Arman Tsarukyan still has some way to go before he is given another title shot, taking him out of the mix.
And so with an emphatic win over ‘The Diamond’ at UFC 318, Holloway could undoubtedly add himself to the lightweight title mix and because of his history with Topuria, he could find himself near the top of the list.