Ilia
Topuria’s recent comments have led Max
Holloway to doubt his fight IQ.
Holloway will challenge Topuria for the featherweight title in the
main event at UFC 308
on Oct. 26 at Etihad Arena in Abu Dhabi. While “Blessed” was
seemingly removed from the featherweight title picture until
recently, when a historic BMF title win over Justin
Gaethje at UFC
300 this past April earned him an immediate gold bid.
After putting a lopsided beatdown on Gaethje throughout the fight,
Holloway pointed to the ground to stand and trade in the final
seconds and knocked “The Highlight” out cold. The former
featherweight champ’s iconic gesture of pointing to ground has
already become a part of MMA folklore and will undoubtedly go down
in the history books.
Topuria recently said that he might be the one pointing at the
ground to coax Holloway into a slugfest at UFC 308. The
Georgian-Spaniard also vowed to knock Holloway out in the first
round if the Hawaiian fights the way he did in the final seconds
against Gaethje. This led “Blessed” to question the undefeated
champ’s fight IQ. Holloway hinted that while there are occasions to
create those moments, it is common sense to not fight in the first
round like he would in the last. However, Holloway admits that he
might be tempted to stand and trade with Topuria if the latter
tries to instigate it.
Ilia Topuria says he’ll KO Max Holloway if
he decides to stand and bang like he did with Justin Gaethje 😳“If he’s gonna bring the same energy he brings in the last 10
seconds of every round, when he [points his finger to the ground],
I’m gonna knock him out in the first… pic.twitter.com/yMSxM2BCFZ— Championship Rounds (@ChampRDS)
August 21, 2024
“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 recently told ESPN. “His athleticism and his power and
strength is there but might be lacking a little in fight IQ. So,
after saying that I was like, ‘Brother you gotta go work on your
brain, my guy.’ I mean there’s reasons, there opportunities, there
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 that. I’m
excited he says that kind of stuff.”