Undefeated UFC featherweight champion Ilia Topuria makes the first defense of his title against former champ Max Holloway in the main event of UFC 308 at Etihad Arena in Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates.
Topuria (15-0) won the belt in February with a second-round knockout of Alexander Volkanovski. Topuria is No. 3 in the ESPN pound-for-pound men’s rankings.
The 10th-ranked Holloway (26-7), who reigned from June 2017 until December 2019, has won three fights in a row, most recently a KO of Justin Gaethje at 4:59 of the fifth round in their April bout at lightweight.
Brett Okamoto, Andreas Hale, Jeff Wagenheim and Dre Waters break down all the action from UFC 308.
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Featherweight championship: Ilia Topuria (c) vs. Max Holloway
Middleweight: Robert Whittaker vs. Khamzat Chimaev
Light heavyweight: Magomed Ankalaev vs. Aleksandar Rakic
Featherweight: Lerone Murphy vs. Dan Ige
Middleweight: Shara Magomedov vs. Armen Petrosyan
ESPN+, 10 a.m. ET
Light heavyweight: Ibo Aslan vs. Rafael Cerqueira
Welterweight: Geoff Neal vs. Rafael Dos Anjos
Lightweight: Mateusz Rebecki vs. Myktybek Orolbai
Middleweight: Abus Magomedov def. Brunno Ferreira
Heavyweight: Kennedy Nzechukwu def. Chris Barnett
Men’s bantamweight: Farid Basharat def. Victor Hugo
Middleweight: Ismail Naurdiev def. Bruno Silva
Welterweight: Rinat Fakhretdinov def. Carlos Leal
(c) = defending champion
For much of the world, being fully functional at work without a good night of rest presents a significant obstacle. Fortunately, most don’t have to worry about being punched in the face. However, for fighters operating without proper sleep, the margin for error at their place of employment is microscopic and can be the difference between a victory and waking up on the canvas. Few navigate these less-than-optimal traveling situations as well as Max Holloway.
“I live in the middle of the sea,” Holloway said in an interview with the UFC’s Megan Olivi as he prepared to compete in the UAE for the third time. “No matter what way I go, it’s a long way.”
There’s no such thing as a home game for Holloway. He hasn’t fought in Hawaii since his fourth professional fight in 2011. Since then, the current BMF champion has competed on the road in the UFC for 29 professional fights across eight time zones.
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The sales pitch for the featherweight championship clash between Ilia Topuria and Max Holloway can stick to recent events. It can begin and end in early 2024. One fight apiece — the most recent for each of them — is all we need to know about to be sold on Saturday’s matchup in Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates.
For Topuria, that one persuasive fight occurred in February, when he snatched away the belt with a knockout that abruptly ended Alexander Volkanovski’s four-year reign. As for Holloway, his hard sell came two months later, when he authored perhaps the greatest KO in MMA history by sending Justin Gaethje face-first to the canvas with just one second remaining in their fifth round of violence.
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Ilia Topuria seized the moment at UFC 298 when he faced one of the featherweight GOATs, Alexander Volkanovski. Topuria dethroned Volkanovski in February and became the 145-pound champion. Eight months later, Topuria will now take on arguably the other featherweight GOAT, as Max Holloway will look to regain his title.
Andreas Hale, Brett Okamoto and Jeff Wagenheim offer their first thoughts, analysis and predictions on UFC 308.
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Maybe we should put something extra on the line when Holloway challenges Topuria on Oct. 26. In addition to the UFC featherweight championship, how about we also break a tie and proclaim the winner as the top KO artist at 145 pounds?. That can be the case, of course, only if the guy who walks out of the cage with the belt has secured the win via knockout. And it’ll be a significant achievement if it happens, as Topuria is undefeated and Holloway has never been knocked out in 33 pro fights.
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There will never be a consensus “greatest knockout in UFC history,” but Holloway’s KO of Justin Gaethje at UFC 300 in April might be the most popular pick. Standing in the center of the Octagon in the final seconds of a five-round fight he was clearly winning and sleeping Gaethje — it was just all Holloway. It defined Holloway as a fighter and a person. The fact it happened up a weight class in a BMF title fight couldn’t have been any more perfect.
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