Max Holloway stood to the right of Ilia Topuria, let the current UFC featherweight champion smile and do all of the talking, and then turned to the fans in attendance at Thursday’s press conference and flexed with a giant smirk on his face.
The confidence was spewing from the former 145-pound titleholder, who looks to get his championship belt back for the first time in five years when he headlines UFC 308 against Topuria on Saturday at Etihad Arena in Abu Dhabi.
The 32-year-old Waianae alum is fighting in the capital of the United Arab Emirates for the third time. The first came during the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020 when he rematched Alexander Volkanovski for the featherweight title he lost in his previous fight, which ended a 13-fight winning streak in the division.
Volkanovski won a split decision in that rematch and then beat Holloway a third time, leaving Holloway on the outside looking in at becoming champion once again.
That changed in February when Topuria, an undefeated Georgian and Spanish fighter, knocked out Volkanovski, who was fighting for the fourth time in 12 months and coming off a knockout loss to the 155-pound champion just four months earlier.
A new champion meant Holloway, who won the symbolic “BMF” title with an unforgettable last-second knockout of Justin Gaethje at UFC 300 in April, had his pathway toward another featherweight title shot.
“He’s a animal. He’s good. A lot of people forget that when he came into the UFC he got brought in as a grappler and a wrestler. He came to the UFC and started knocking dudes out,” Holloway said at Wednesday’s media day event. “His boxing is nice. As a fighter, you cannot be a hater and say he is not good. Is he proven? He did what he had to do, when he had to do it, to get to the position he has, so there is no disrespect to that.”
No disrespect on Holloway’s end, but the champion has taken a much different approach to this fight.
Topuria has seemingly tried to become a bad-guy character, taking shots at Holloway for weeks leading up to the bout on social media.
He made fun of Holloway for not putting up his “BMF” title, which is a decision reserved for the UFC to make. He also questioned whether Holloway tried to duck the fight, even after Holloway, who could have had his choice of opponents after the Gaethje win, said time and time again Topuria was first on his list.
Topuria even went so far as to question Holloway’s character when there might not be a more likable fighter in the entire UFC.
“I’m more confused about everything that he is saying, about me not wanting to fight him, about me getting forced to fight him. The dude, he got me out here feeling how he looked after my Gaethje fight,” Holloway said, referring to a video that went viral of Topuria being the only guy looking unimpressed in a crowd of people going crazy after Holloway’s knockout win. “I think, I mean, I don’t know, bro. His mind is very interesting.”
One of Holloway’s signature moves in fights is when he has pointed to the mat at the end of some of his most memorable wars.
In a win over Ricardo Lamas on his way up the ladder to fighting for a title for the first time, he pointed to the canvas in the final 10 seconds of a fight he was winning and started throwing haymaker after haymaker until the final bell sounded.
He did the same thing against Gaethje, who obliged, making his last-second knockout that much more memorable.
Topuria has asked to do the same, but for Holloway, there is some respect needed before getting to that level.
“It just makes no sense. At the end of the day, to me, I don’t think he deserves … you’ve got to earn that right,” said Holloway, who accused Topuria of trying to act like Conor McGregor. “At the end of the day, I think you’ve got to earn that moment, and I believe he could have earned it with Josh Emmett in their five-round war. Josh Emmett was trying to swing … when Josh was trying to swing, someone shot and someone held someone down for the rest of the fight. He’s just trying to steal stuff.”
Emmett, ranked eighth in the UFC 145-pound rankings, went the distance against Topuria in the fight that led to Topuria’s title victory.
Topuria has three wins over opponents ranked in the top 15 in the featherweight division.
Holloway has defeated four fighters currently ranked in the top 10 and six past UFC champions.
“I’m just a couple years older than him. I’ve been here, done that,” Holloway said. “A lot of people keep forgetting how young I was. When I was his age, I had all my title wins and title defenses, so that’s just how that goes.”
Also ranked in the top 15 is Kahuku alumnus Dan Ige (18-8, 10-7), who will headline the preliminary card against undefeated fighter Lerone Murphy (11-0-1, 6-0-1), who has won six straight since his lone draw.
Ige, who has never been finished in his career, is ranked 14th, while Murphy is 12th.
“I get to fight a guy above me in the rankings,” Ige said at media day. “I have belief in myself and in my team and in the game plan we have to beat him. That’s the beauty of this sport. Odds and all of that aside, anything can happen in MMA. I’m going to go out there and look to be the first person to beat Lerone Murphy and I truly believe I can do so.”
UFC 308
Saturday at Etihad Arena, Abu Dhabi
MAIN CARD, 8 A.M.
World featherweight title fight
>> Max Holloway (26-7, 22-7 UFC) vs. Ilia Topuria (15-0, 7-0)
PRELIMINARY CARD, 4 A.M.
>> Lerone Murphy (14-0-1, 6-0-1) vs. Dan Ige (18-8, 10-7)
>> TV: ESPN+ PPV (main card); ESPN+ (prelims)
