The year 2024 saw some vicious KOs inside the octagon. However, Dustin Poirier believes nothing comes close to featherweight champion Ilia Topuria’s knockout of Max Holloway simply because it was unprecedented.
Topuria, defending his title at UFC 308, hit Holloway with a flush right in the second round to shut his lights out. This was the first time someone had KOed Holloway.
“Going in there toe-to-toe with Justin Gaethje, with me, with Conor McGregor… with a bunch of guys, taking big shots and always answering the bell, always getting back up, always showing up to the next round. You know, I have never really seen him [Holloway] rocked or stumbled that much,” said Poirier on the Good Guy/Bad Guy show.
“And to get put down for the first time after 30+ UFC fights is to me, knockout of the year,” Poirier added.
Holloway, 32, had a lot of cred going into the fight despite Topuria being the favorite. Max was coming off a BMF title fight against Gaethje. Holloway had dominated that fight, before knocking Justin out right as the final bell rang.
However, Topuria, who was also coming off a KO victory over Alexander Volkanovski for the featherweight title, made it look easy against Holloway. Ilia was versatile, quick, and precise. And even though Holloway had the volume of strikes going for him, he was no match for Topuria’s power.
Now that he’s got Holloway in the bag, Ilia wants to take his KO talents to lightweight, where he wants to destroy another fan favorite.
Topuria, UFC’s newest villain
The UFC has had quite a few villains over the years. Sonnen was the ‘Bad Guy’ with his words, while Conor McGregor’s infamy is notorious, pun intended. However, both were limited when it came to using that villainy to script a solid reign.
Sonnen never won a title and McGregor never defended one. The only villain who did both was Jon Jones. But then his villainy took on a path of disrepute after drug abuse suspensions, and arrest for assault.
Topuria’s style is different. While he remains humble in victory and defeat, Ilia is otherwise a menace.
He recently sent the UFC into shock by saying that the featherweight division had seen the last of him. This came days after lightweight champion Islam Makhachev claimed he wasn’t interested in fighting smaller guys like Topuria.
Topuria doesn’t just want to challenge for the lightweight title, he wants to systematically take over the division. He plans to start his campaign with former lightweight champion Charles ‘Do Bronx’ Oliveira.
While it is no easy task for anyone to defeat Oliveira, Topuria is confident. If Dana White signs on the dotted lines, and Topuria defeats Oliveira, he would have successfully finished three of this generation’s biggest stars. Islam could no longer ignore him after that.
