Max Holloway Believes UFC Was Protecting Ilia Topuria From Him

Max Holloway believes that the UFC was “shelling” Ilia Topuria away from him 😳

“I believe that the UFC made me fight every other contender at 145
except for [Ilia] for a reason…

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I’m gonna prove come October 26th why the UFC was shelling him away
from me.”

🎥 YT /… pic.twitter.com/GXuCr2znT1

— Championship Rounds (@ChampRDS)
September 17, 2024

Max
Holloway believes the
UFC was protecting Ilia
Topuria from him and he plans to show why in their upcoming
matchup.

Holloway will challenge Topuria for the featherweight title in the
main event at UFC 308
on Oct. 26 at the Etihad Arena in Abu Dhabi. Topuria earned the
belt with a second-round knockout win over Alexander
Volkanovski at UFC 298 this past February. Many believe it
Volkanovski’s short return timeline from a knockout loss against
Islam
Makhachev in October 2023 that affected his performance in that
bout.

But Holloway doesn’t want to take anything away from Topuria for
beating the man whom he lost to three times. However, “Blessed”
believes the reason he hasn’t already faced Topuria is because the
UFC was shielding the undefeated star. And the Hawaiian plans to
show exactly why at UFC 308.

“A lot of people giving Ilia heat for the strength of schedule that
he [Volkanovski] had. [Topuria] did what he was supposed to do. He
won, plain and simple,” Holloway said on his YouTube channel. “He
beat a guy that I had three times a [chance] to beat. And he did
it, he had the shot. But I believe that UFC made me fight every
other contender at [145 pounds] except for him for a reason. And
we’re here now and I’m gonna prove, come Oct. 26, why UFC was
[shielding] him away from me.”

Holloway seemed far removed from the title picture after his third
title loss to Volkanovski in 2022. While Holloway rebounded with
wins over Arnold
Allen and Chan Sung
Jung, it was his iconic BMF title win at lightweight against
Justin
Gaethje this past April that really catapulted him back to the
title picture. Meanwhile, Topuria has finished five of his seven
UFC wins, leaving behind the likes of Bryce
Mitchell and Josh Emmett
in his wake.