If you’re a sports fan who has been scrolling social media this week your algorithm has probably shown you at least a few reaction videos to Max Holloway’s last-second UFC 300 knockout of Justin Gaethje.
Among them may have been Ilia Topuria, one of the many notable fighters watching cage-side, who stood stone-faced as Holloway pulled off the ultimate “BMF” moment. Some fight fans interpreted Topuria’s reaction or lack thereof as one of intimidation, however, the current UFC featherweight champion will assure you that was not the case.
Topuria vowed to become the first fighter to hand Holloway a knockout loss and take the BMF belt, during an appearance on The MMA Hour.
“I was hoping for him to win because if he was to win I was supposed to fight him next,” Topuria said Wednesday. “He did a great job. To be honest, the greatest moments in the fight was the last 10 seconds. Without that, I didn’t like the fight at all, but what made that fight special was the last 10 seconds. The real bad (expletive) moment, so you have to give him his credit.
“I didn’t see any technique, I didn’t see any strategy, I didn’t see any head movement. I just see a bar fight. Even the last 10 seconds, it was amazing from a fan perspective. It was great to watch but before that I wasn’t impressed at all.”
Topuria is 15-0 in professional mixed martial arts and has a 7-0 UFC record with five stoppage wins. The 27-year-old of Georgian descent who lives in Spain won the title in February when he knocked out Alexander Volkanovski at UFC 298.
Even though Holloway’s fight with Gaethje took place in the lightweight division (155 pounds), the Hawaiian star is a former featherweight champion and the next-highest-ranked fighter at 145 pounds beneath only Topuria and Volkanovski.
“There’s an El Matador. He is running away from a bull at 145,” Holloway said in the cage at UFC 300 referencing Topuria’s nickname while challenging the unbeaten champion. “Tell him to sign the contract! Spain, Hawaii, wherever!”
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The 32-year-old Holloway is 19-4 in the UFC since 2014 with all four of his losses during this 10-year stretch coming by five-round decisions in championship fights – two unanimous and one split decision to Volkanovski plus a unanimous decision to Dustin Poirier in an interim lightweight title bout.
“Hopefully we’re going to share the Octagon (towards) the end of the year and you know what’s going to happen,” Topuria told Ariel Helwani before adding a warning to the latest BMF title winner. “Fighting with me is going to be completely different because I don’t make any step backs. All the time I walk forward, I can wrestle, I can go to the ground, I can punch you and I move. I go inside that cage with that strategy. I don’t go there just to throw some punches.”
Topuria then highlighted Holloway’s three losses to Volkanovski and contrasted those results to how he managed to put away Volkanovski within two rounds.
The current featherweight champion added that before facing Volkanovski he had previously asked the UFC matchmakers to be paired up with Holloway.
“He can say whatever he wants to say, that he’s the bull and I’m running. Come on, man. Just bring the same energy you had in the last 10 seconds but bring it in the first 10 seconds. Let’s bang and we’ll see what’s going to happen,” Topuria said. “I know I will be the first one to take his lights out. I know that I’m way better than him everywhere. I can do with him whatever I want to. I can ask him: ‘How do you want me to finish you? You want me to knock you out? You want me to submit you? What do you want me to do?’”
Earlier in the week, Topuria congratulated Holloway on social media and Holloway responded.
Topuria suggested he feels like if he were to beat Holloway he wouldn’t merely be defending the 145-pound title – something Holloway did thrice during his championship reign – but he’d also become the official “BMF” of the UFC in the process. In fact, Topuria said winning the BMF Title would be the main appeal of a matchup with Holloway. It is unclear if the UFC would also promote a fight for the undisputed featherweight title as an official BMF Title fight.
He also teased a potential jump up to the lightweight division in the future to attempt to become a two-weight champion, while also being open to a rematch with Volkanovski.
Topuria’s only stipulation before running it back with the popular Australian is that Volkanovski take the proper amount of time to recover from the February knockout loss – Volkanovski was also knocked out four months prior by Islam Makhachev at UFC 294 in October – because he’d want there to be no excuses and wants to face the best version of Volkanovski possible if they were to run it back.
Hypothetically, if Topuria fought and defeated Holloway towards the end of 2024 then he said he could see himself facing Volkanovski again early in 2025.
“He deserves that shot,” Topuria said of Volkanovski’s desire to win back the title he held for more than three years and defended five times.
As for when we might see Topuria next compete, the current pound-for-pound No. 5 on the official UFC rankings said he can be ready for some time in August, September, or October with September’s anticipated event at The Sphere in Las Vegas something Topuria showed an interest in headlining.
Topuria also threw out a couple other blockbuster options for his future lineup of opponents if all goes his way.
The first was that if he beats Holloway and Conor McGregor beats Michael Chandler at UFC 303 in June then Topuria and McGregor could compete for the BMF at 170 pounds.
The second was if reigning men’s bantamweight champion Sean O’Malley defended his belt against Merab Dvalishvili, adding that he “has many doubts” O’Malley will be able to do that, he feels that would be an exciting matchup if O’Malley decided to move up from 135 to 145 to attempt to win a second title.
Topuria has become a superstar in Spain since earning UFC gold and hopes to headline the first UFC event in Spain, ideally at Santiago Bernabéu Stadium. A hypothetical future event at that venue would have the potential to shatter the UFC’s current attendance record held by UFC 243 which hosted more than 57,000 people at Marvel Stadium in Melbourne, Australia in 2019.
