Ilia Topuria and Max Holloway are just over a month away from their blockbuster featherweight title fight. So naturally, the media attention and the trash talking are picking up the pace. Ahead of their fight, Holloway has been very vocal about how superior his fighting game is compared to Topuria. The Spaniard disagrees!
In a recent interview, the champ responded to the comments and spoke about the qualities that make him better than ‘Blessed’, not just inside the octagon, but outside it as well,
“I’m superior to him in every way. I’m even more handsome.”
️ Ilia Topuria: “I’m superior to [Max Holloway] in every way. I’m even more handsome.”
@marca #UFC #MMA #UFC308 pic.twitter.com/BIDQazMhVI
— Championship Rounds (@ChampRDS) September 18, 2024
The Champ believes he looks more handsome than the challenger. Not sure how that will help him in the fight, but any advantage counts, even perceived ones.
Topuria will look to make an example out of Holloway at UFC 308 but given that the Hawaiian native has never been finished in a fight, that might be easier said than done.
Holloway also has some truly crazy matches in his career, absolute battles that he’s come out on the right side of; the last one being against Justin Gaethje for the BMF title, where he knocked the ‘highlights’ out of him with one second to go.
So as far as Holloway fans are concerned, they love this match up, they love any match up he is in because it’s most likely to be a blood bath, a strike fest or as Dana White calls it, ‘a holy Feck movement’.
Besides, Holloway already has an axe to grind with the UFC featherweight champion.
Holloway accuses UFC for shielding Topuria
Firstly, it’s his old title. He is one of the best featherweights of all time. Secondly, he feels a bit wronged by the company.
So after finally getting another shot at the title, he called out the UFC for protecting the champion and not letting him get the shot earlier in a YouTube video,
“I believe that the UFC made me fight every other contender at 145 except for [Ilia] for a reason…I’m gonna prove come October 26th why the UFC was shelling him away from me.”
Needless to say, Topuria is heading towards a fighter who is known for being violent and also has a problem with him. Fortunately, however, he’s no muck in the octagon either.
Afterall, he is the one that defeated Alexander Volkanovski to win the title after the Aussie had taken it off Holloway by dominating him for five rounds. In fact, Volk has defeated Holloway thrice in title fights!
However, the times have changed. Volk is not the same fighter anymore and neither is Holloway.
