Will Max Holloway Defend BMF Title at UFC 308? Ilia Topuria Reveals Stipulation Ahead of Abu Dhabi Fight
Will Max Holloway defend the BMF title at UFC 308? Ilia Topuria reveals a crucial stipulation ahead of his Abu Dhabi fight in the latest UFC news
![Max Holloway, and Ilia Topuria Getty](https://www.pinkvilla.com/images/2024-08/351885375_untitled-design-2024-08-22t095806-921.jpg)
Debunking the rumors, Ilia Topuria denied claims of his UFC 308 matchup being a BMF title fight. Defending his title for the first time since his impressive victory over Alexander Volkanovski, Topuria will be facing Max Holloway. And while Holloway is the current BMF champion of the Dana White led promotion, rumors went off that the fight would be for the BMF title. But that was not the truth as the champion confirmed that UFC 308 will be a featherweight title fight instead of BMF.
Speaking about the same with MMA Junkie recently, Ilia Topuria stated, “No, the BMF title is not going to be on the line… To be honest, I don’t care. They took that decision and at the end of the day it’s like, when I’m going to beat him, he can’t say he’s a BMF or however they want to call him. I’m just concentrating on my title defense and that’s it. I don’t care about anything else.” Topuria looked to be oozing confidence about securing a knockout.
The Spaniard mentioned that Max Holloway has never been put to sleep and that will be a huge challenge for him. On the contrary, the UFC featherweight champion claimed his name will go down in history as the first athlete to have KOed Max Holloway. And Topuria has enough reasons to back the claims. He said that everytime that Holloway fights, Topuria gets the feeling that he was technically much better than the UFC BMF title. The champion also stated that he could beat Holloway in kickboxing or boxing too.
Well, Topuria might look confident but Max Holloway is not an easy opponent. His thunderous knockout of Justin Gaethje at UFC 300 is enough to instill fear in his opponent’s minds. Holloway was fighting outside of his weight class and to show such unprecedented dominance propelled his way to being a championship contender. The duo had an extended back and forth on the internet. Ilia Topuria stated that Holloway was afraid of facing him.
However, Holloway soon denied the claims and mentioned that it was actually the other way round. After making the match official, ‘El Matador’ opined that the UFC must have pressurized Holloway to accept the fight. Dana White took significant offense to the statement and said that a fighter of Max Holloway’s caliber did not have to be forced. Thus, with the fight guaranteed to be a banger, it remains to be seen who ends up on the winning side.
ALSO READ: Ilia Topuria Teases Title Fight Vs Max Holloway: 'UFC Has Forced Him To Say Yes'
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