Ilia Topuria defend his featherweight championship towards Max Holloway, whereas Chechnya’s Khamzat Chimaev remained undefeated within the middleweight class.
Champion Ilia Topuria overcame early adversity to attain a thunderous third-round knockout victory over Hawaii’s Max Holloway to retain the UFC featherweight title at UFC 308 on the Etihad Enviornment in Abu Dhabi, UAE.
The 27-year-old Topuria scored an early takedown however struggled to handle the gap by means of the primary two frames of an intriguing title struggle. As soon as he figured it out, the writing was on the wall for his opponent.
Holloway, who defeated Jose Aldo to change into undisputed featherweight champ in June 2017 however misplaced the belt in December 2019, used his dizzying array of strikes to maintain his Georgian-born opponent at bay, however Topuria’s piston-like proper hand was a risk all through on Saturday night time.
That proper hand was what began Holloway’s demise, nevertheless it was a follow-up brief left that despatched Holloway crashing to the canvas after which Topuria rapidly adopted him to the bottom, raining down blows earlier than referee Marc Goddard jumped in to cease the struggle.
“With that proper hand, I felt it. I simply noticed it with him, in his face, he began making some steps again, and also you don’t see that always with Max,” Topuria stated, paying tribute to his opponent as Holloway suffered the primary knockout lack of his UFC tenure.
“I hope I’m going to be a small portion of the instance he has been for me, for the brand new era.”
Chimaev win units up potential title struggle with Du Plessis
Within the co-main occasion, undefeated Chechen Khamzat Chimaev placed on one other dominant grappling show earlier than submitting former champ Robert Whittaker within the first spherical of their middleweight contest.
Chimaev wasted no time taking the Australian down, utilizing his limpet-like wrestling to regulate Whittaker earlier than taking his again and latching on to a face crank that appeared to dislocate his opponent’s jaw, forcing a really fast faucet with 1:26 left to go within the first body.
Chimaev is now tipped to be the primary contender to struggle South Africa’s Dricus Du Plessis for the UFC middleweight world title in early 2025, in what could be a blockbuster matchup.
