Ilia Topuria will go to war against Max Holloway in arguably the most anticipated fight of the year at UFC 308 on Oct. 26. The pair will headline the event, which takes place in Abu Dhabi, for the featherweight title.
Ahead of their bout, Conor McGregor shared his preview online, with the Irishman pointing out that Holloway’s improvements as a fighter largely came after he lost to ‘The Notorious’ in 2013 at UFC Fight Night 26.
McGregor’s UFC 308 preview did not sit kindly with ‘El Matador’, who responded to the former two-division champion with a fiery post online.
The Irishman wrote this in a now-deleted post on X:
“Holloway came back and earned it majorly. Two time [featherweight] champion… 1000% he became way better after losing to me. He actually became an all-time great after losing to me. This is a stellar fight folks! He took moves as well with him… He will be very hard to catch for the little man.
The Georgian-Spaniard responded with this:
“100% Max has improved after fighting you. He must have realized that if he wanted to make a living from this, he couldn’t be so bad as to lose to someone like you. Nowadays, he beats you easily. Dustin knocked you out in the [rematch], Nate beat you two times, Khabib humiliated you, and Floyd gave you a master class in boxing at 50 years old. Take a seat, kid. You’re a fake fighter.”
Ilia Topuria eyes lightweight gold after beating Max Holloway at UFC 308
Ilia Topuria is supremely confident that he will knock out Max Holloway when they fight at UFC 308. Should ‘El Matador’ do so, he will be the first man to knock the Hawaiian out in MMA history.
Holloway’s chin is famous for its durability, but Topuria’s confidence in the outcome of their fight has not wavered.
During a recent interview with Ariel Helwani, the Georgian-Spaniard shared his eagerness to move to lightweight after beating ‘Blessed’. With Topuria’s budding rivalry with Islam Makhachev, UFC matchmakers could look to book a bout between them.
He said:
“If they tell me that they are okay that I’m going to move to 155, I will do it. Because I want to do it. It’s easier for me, the weight cut. I felt very good at that weight… I already fought at 155 in London against Jai Herbert. So, I felt really good, so I want to do it once again and for the world title.”
