UFC Featherweight and BMF titleholder Max Holloway will battle featherweight champion Ilia Topuria for the title.
Their upcoming bout has brought a lot of buzz and a lot of trash talk from Topuria. The champ seems to still have some beef with Holloway after the BMF champ downplayed his win against Alexander Volkanovski.
“That was a hurt [Volkanoski],’ and I understand, but ‘Volk’ felt like he was good enough to go in there, and Ilia did what he did. He still had to do what he do.” Holloway said after Topuira’s win.
The champ got wind of this comment and did not take it lightly, as he felt it diminished the significance of his win. “El Matador” replied, “He never underestimates anyone. I’m preparing to defend my title. Volkanovski had never been knocked out in his division either, and look. They had to give Holloway a raise to say yes. They’ve really made me dizzy.”
Holloway is set to face Topuria and the trash talk he has received from the champ has been the most in his career. The champ says his fight with Holloway will be an easy fight and has promised the be the first to knockout the Hawaiian.
“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 are 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.”
Despite the many talks, Holloway is immune to the insults and believes Topuria is all talk and is secretly an admirer.
“After the [UFC] 300 moment, the camera’s on him and the dude is just … he’s him, he’s himself. He’s an odd fella I would say,” Holloway told ESPN. “I just noticed yesterday some people were tagging me on Twitter that he commented on one of my Instagram posts saying ‘let’s go Max.’ And I think he’s a fan of me.
“I think he’s a fan of me, and I think he can’t deny it. I think deep down inside, he’s really cheering for me, which is kind of weird, but he’s an odd fella. He’s an odd fella for sure.”
“What showed or what did I say or what did I do to show that he’s under my skin?” Holloway said. “That’s news to me. That’s funny. Nobody can really get under my skin.
“At the end of the day, if we wasn’t fighting, if 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. So why would I be mad about whatever he’s doing?
Although Holloway feels unthreatened by the champ, he does not deny that “El Matador” will be a tough opponent to beat.
“I’d be lying to you if I said he wasn’t good,” Holloway said. “He beat a guy [in Alexander Volkanovski] that I had three cracks at and couldn’t figure out. Next, he went in there one time and a lot of guys are going to say [Volkanovski] was hurt and I understand but Volk felt like he was good enough to go in there and he did what did.”
“He thinks he knows something,” Holloway said. “I’ve seen him say he thinks he’s going to be the first one to put me out. If that’s what you need to get yourself to the fight, please keep telling yourself that all the way to Oct. 26. Because when we get in that octagon, that cage door closes, we get to find out.
“All this he said, he said stuff is going to go out the window, and we get to find out who’s going to be the champion after that night.”
Max Holloway’s career in the featherweight division marked a decade in the UFC promotion. If we exclude some of his fights against lightweight contenders, his overall record reflects a stellar career in featherweight. The fighter has faced some of the most formidable opponents, including former featherweight champion Alexander Volkanovski.
