Max Holloway warns UFC featherweight champion Ilia Topuria about brawling with him.
Holloway (26-7 MMA, 22-7 UFC) challenges Topuria (15-0 MMA, 7-0 UFC) in the UFC 308 main event Oct. 26 at Etihad Arena in Abu Dhabi. Holloway earned his title shot after knocking out Justin Gaethje at UFC 300 to claim the BMF belt in April. In the final seconds of the fight, Holloway pointed to the center of the octagon and lured Gaethje into a “Rock’em, Sock’em Robots” type of exchange, which led to an iconic knockout.
In a recent interview with MMA Junkie, Topuria said if Holloway brought that energy to the beginning of the fight, it would lead to his demise. He also predicted that he’d be the first to knock him out.
“I saw an interview of him saying that: ‘Bring the last 10 seconds to the first 10 seconds of the fight,’ which is his fight IQ might not be there,” Holloway told ESPN. “His athleticism and his power and strength is there, but (he) might be lacking a little bit in fight IQ. So, after saying that, I was like, ‘Brother, you’ve got to go work on your brain, my guy.’
“I mean, there’s reasons, there are opportunities, there are chances you do that kind of stuff. We’ll see what happens. If he does it, how can I step down from that? That’ll be a fun one. I never saw him even have a moment like that with anybody yet. So to do it against a guy who loves to do that, we’ll see. I’m excited he says that kind of stuff.”
Topuria has made bold claims, such as calling Holloway an easy matchup and that he’d beat Holloway and ex-champ Sean O’Malley on the same night.
Holloway dismisses the notion that “El Matador” is under his skin.
“No, why? What did I say, or what did I do to show that he’s under my skin? That’s news to me,” Holloway said. “That’s funny. Nobody can really get under my skin, bro. If we weren’t fighting and we didn’t have a fight booked, I’d be kind of annoyed just because we don’t have a fight booked.
“But at the end of the day, we’re booked, Oct. 26. I get to punch you in the face, kick you, hit you. I get to fight you. Why would I be mad about whatever he’s doing? The guy is writing checks right now that his body might not be able to cash. The greatest thing ever is that we get to find out Oct. 26.”
For more on the card, visit MMA Junkie’s event hub for UFC 308.
