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Even if he reclaims UFC featherweight gold on Saturday, Max Holloway might not be done in the lightweight division.

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Holloway will challenge reigning champion Ilia Topuria for the 145-pound title in the UFC 308 headliner at Etihad Arena in Abu Dhabi. That fight comes on the heels of a successful venture to 155 pounds, where he knocked out Justin Gaethje to capture the BMF belt at UFC 300 this past April. Gaethje was regarded as one of the top title contenders at lightweight before that defeat, which has Holloway thinking about a potential matchup with current divisional kingpin Islam Makhachev. In 2018, “Blessed” was scheduled to face Khabib Nurmagomedov in a lightweight title clash at UFC 223 before his weight cut was determined to be unsafe by the New York State Athletic Commission.

“You’ve got to do great things,” Holloway recently told Demetrious Johnson on his YouTube channel. “We had that fight booked with Khabib a while bac…

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According to Dana White, there is one bad thing about the highly-anticipated featherweight championship clash between Ilia Topuria and Max Holloway.

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“This Topuria-Holloway fight is terrible because when you like both guys and they actually have to go in there, and somebody has to lose – it sucks,” White recently said on the Outta Pocket with RGIII podcast.

“Max Holloway is one of the greatest ever to do it and just one of the nicest dudes, he has the BMF belt, and he is a BMF. Topuria has been an absolute rockstar. It’s gonna be a fun fight. I hate to see somebody lose that fight.”

UFC 308: Topuria vs. Holloway Saturday at 2 PM ET on ESPN+. Order Now!

Topuria will defend his featherweight crown against Holloway in the UFC 308 headliner at Etihad Arena in Abu Dhabi on Saturday. Topuria is unbeaten in 15 professional bouts and is coming off a second-round stoppage of Alexander Volkanovski to claim featherweight gold at UFC 298…

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Ilia Topuria’s brother, Aleksandre Topuria, had some elite corner advice for him in his UFC featherweight title win.

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Ilia defeated Alexander Volkanovski via second-round knockout at UFC 298 this past February to be crowned the featherweight champ. The Georgian-Spaniard is set to defend his title for the first time against Max Holloway in the main event at UFC 308 on Saturday at the Etihad Arena in Abu Dhabi. Leading up to the fight, Topuria revealed how his brother helped him in his win over “The Great.”

Once Ilia returned to his corner after the first round, Aleksandre pointed out that Volkanovski’s left arm doesn’t stay on guard. Aleksandre also advised Ilia to add pressure when Volkanovski moved toward him once the second round started.

“His left arm is set quite low. He puts his left arm here. Once you start, cut his distance a bit if it is possible,” Ilia said via translation in the UFC 308 Countdown video. “Continue w…

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Kamaru Usman believes Khamzat Chimaev will beat Robert Whittaker at UFC 308.

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Chimaev and Whittaker will clash in a high-caliber middleweight bout in the co-main event at UFC 308 on Saturday at the Etihad Arena in Abu Dhabi. While Chimaev has opened as a betting favorite, many consider it a pick ‘em matchup.

Usman, who has previously shared the Octagon with Chimaev, favous the Chechen-born Swede over Whittaker. Whittaker and Chimaev were originally scheduled to fight at UFC Saudi Arabia in June, but “Borz” was forced to pull out due to illness. Whittaker went on to score a first-round finish over highly-touted debutant Ikram Aliskerov, whose only other career loss came against Chimaev on the regional circuit. While Usman acknowledged Whittaker’s elite skillset, “The Nigerian Nightmare” feels Chimaev is just gifted. Although Whittaker boasts strong anti-grappling abilities at middleweight, Usman believes Chimaev will be able to imp…

Ilia Topuria shows respect to Khabib, but goes IN on his cousins/teammates 😳

"One thing I respect about Khabib, the guy is super respectful... I mentioned Islam, and all the cousins come out.

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They've never knocked anyone out, they get caught using steroids, they're super… pic.twitter.com/Bxmm77AEG0 — Championship Rounds (@ChampRDS) October 21, 2024

Ilia Topuria doesn’t have the same respect for Khabib Nurmagomedov’s teammates as he does for “The Eagle.”

Topuria is slated to defend his featherweight title against Max Holloway in the main event at UFC 308 this Saturday at the Etihad Arena in Abu Dhabi. If he defends his strap successfully, “El Matador” has expressed interest in challenging lightweight champ Islam Makhachev, leading to a war of words with the Dagestani contingent.

Umar Nurmagomedov, Usman Nurmagomedov, Tagir Ulanbekov and Abubakar Nurmagomedov all teamed up to throw online barbs at Topuria. The beef …

Muhammad Mokaev’s strained relationship with the Ultimate Fighting Championship isn’t getting any better.

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Mokaev and Raul Rosas Jr. were scheduled to meet in a catchweight submission grappling bout in the main event at ADXC 6 on Friday at the Mubadala Arena in Abu Dhabi. However, the fight was canceled soon after it was announced, which the promotion blamed on “unforeseen circumstances.”

“Due to unforeseen circumstances, [Muhammad Mokaev] vs [Raul Rosas Jr.]has been cancelled as the ADXC6 main event! The show must go on,” ADXC wrote in a statement. “Stay tuned for a new grappling main event to be announced soon!.”

Due to unforeseen circumstances, Muhammad Mokaev vs Raul Rosas Jr has been cancelled as the #ADXC6 Main Event! The show must go ON 🔥 Stay tuned for a new Grappling Main Event to be announced soon! 👀#ADXC6 #JiuJitsu #Grappling #AbuDhabi #MubadalaArena pic.twitter.com/4KXq3aTaK6

— ADXC_official (@adxc_o…

Tatiana Suarez’s path to Ultimate Fighting Championship gold has hit another roadblock.

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The strawweight contender has reportedly suffered an undisclosed injury and has been forced to withdraw from a proposed clash against Virna Jandiroba at UFC 310 on Dec. 7. Multiple outlets confirmed the news following an initial report from MMA Melotto. It is currently unknown if Jandiroba will remain on the card against a replacement opponent.

Suarez and Janiroba were previously booked to square off in August 2023 before the Brazilian suffered a knee injury and pulled out of the fight. Suarez would remain on the UFC on ESPN 50 card, where she submitted ex-strawweight queen Jessica Andrade in the second round of their encounter. The 33-year-old Milennia MMA representative was supposed to return to action against Amanda Lemos at UFC 298 in February, but Suarez withdrew from that contest due to what she described as a “minor setback.”

When healthy, Suarez i…

The BMF title will not be on the line at UFC 308, but Ilia Topuria believes he can have a negative impact on its relevance.

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Topuria will defend his featherweight crown against former champ Max Holloway in Saturday’s headliner at Etihad Arena in Abu Dhabi. After going 0-3 in 145-pound title bouts against Alexander Volkanovski, Holloway was on the outside looking in when it came to the featherweight title picture. However, that changed when Topuria defeated Volkanovski to become the new featherweight king at UFC 298.

Meanwhile, Holloway moved up to 155 pounds at UFC 300, where he captured the BMF belt with an iconic fifth-round knockout of Justin Gaethje. Topuria has since stated that Holloway was reluctant to accept a championship fight at 145 pounds, and he reiterated that claim in a recent interview with CBS Sports.

"After he knocked out Justin Gaethje, I asked about Max Holloway," Topuria said. "Before that fight, I thought of giving the rema…

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Khamzat Chimaev has taken some heat for his lack of activity in recent years.

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After emerging as one of the Ultimate Fighting Championship’s hottest prospects in 2020, Chimaev’s ascent has slowed somewhat. He fought just once in 2023 and will make his first appearance this year when he meets Robert Whittaker in the UFC 308 co-headliner on Saturday at Etihad Arena in Abu Dhabi.

“Borz” was supposed to face Whittaker at UFC Saudi Arabia on June 22, but the Chechen-born Swede was forced to pull out of the event after become “violently ill” a little more than a week before the fight. According to Chimaev, his exit occurred due to circumstances beyond his control.

“We were in training camp. The first month was very good,” Chimaev said on the UFC Countdown show. “The last three weeks, my immunity goes down. I don’t know what happened. All the guys ate the same food, [but] only [I] got sick.UFC 308: Topuria vs. Holloway Saturday at 2…

While Ilia Topuria might very well be the next big thing at 145 pounds, Max Holloway has been there before.

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The former featherweight king has faced the best the sport has to offer over the course of an Ultimate Fighting Championship tenure that began in 2012. While “Blessed” can see some parallels betwen his and Topuria’s rise to the top, at this point in his career, the mind games that accompany pre-fight promotion don’t have much of an effect on the 32-year-old Hawaiian.

Holloway will square off against Topuria in the UFC 308 main event on Saturday at Etihad Arena in Abu Dhabi. The main card airs on pay-per-view via ESPN+ at 2 p.m. ET/11 a.m. ET, while prelims begin on ESPN+ at 10 a.m. ET/7 a.m. PT.

“I got my first belt against former champions…Your idols become your rivals. Ilia said he’s a big fan. So I guess he did what I did, and I respect that,” Holloway said in an interview with UFC.com. “At the end of the day, all these mental games…

🇪🇸 Ilia Topuria’s custom shorts for #UFC308 are 🔥🔥🔥

🎥 @ClubDeLasMMA #UFC #MMA

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pic.twitter.com/v528bQC5o7 — Championship Rounds (@ChampRDS) October 19, 2024

Ilia Topuria will have some special, customized fight shorts for his first featherweight title defense.

Spanish outlet Marca recently revealed the shorts, which are red and yellow with bulls on the sides, that Topuria will wear for his UFC 308 main event showdown with Max Holloway on Saturday. UFC 308 takes place Etihad Arena in Abu Dhabi and airs via pay-per-view on ESPN+ at 2 p.m. ET/11 a.m. PT.

UFC 308: Topuria vs. Holloway Saturday at 2 PM ET on ESPN+. Order Now!

Topuria claimed the featherweight belt with a second-round knockout of Alexander Volkanovski in the UFC 298 headliner on Feb. 17. “El Matador” has kicked off his professional tenure with 15 straight triumphs, a run that includes seven victories in UFC competition.

A former featherweigh…

Featherweight fighter Daiane Silva is still hospitalized after a bad weight cut led to her becoming seriously ill ahead of a proposed fight at Bellator Champions Series London on Sept. 14.

Silva was slated to face Eman Almudhaf at the event but was hospitalized due to severe dehydration as a result of her cut to the featherweight limit of 146 pounds. According to multiple reports, Silva was induced into a coma for several weeks after suffering kidney failure. More recently, she has displayed some positive signs of consciousness while remaining hospitalized.

“As Daiane made weight for her debut in Bellator, she suffered an accident due to dehydration,” Silva’s manager, Alex Davis said in a statement released to MMAFighting.com. “She was promptly seen by the doctor, was rushed to the hospital in delicate condition, was admitted to intensive care. Her condition was serious, but since, she has been improving steadily and our hope is that she recovers fully. Myself, her t…