Ilia Topuria defended 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 Area in Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates.
Topuria, 27, scored an early takedown however struggled to manage the space throughout the first two frames of an intriguing title combat. As soon as he figured it out, the writing was on the wall for his opponent.
Holloway, who defeated Jose Aldo to turn into undisputed featherweight champion in June 2017 however misplaced the belt in December 2019, used his dizzying array of punches to maintain his Georgia-born opponent at bay, however the correct hand with Topuria’s piston form was a risk always. Saturday night time.
That proper hand was what began Holloway’s demise, nevertheless it was a brief left hand that despatched Holloway crashing to the canvas after which Topuria shortly adopted him to the bottom, raining down punches earlier than referee Marc Goddard jumped in to cease the combat.
“With that proper hand I felt it. I simply noticed it with him, in his face, he began to take a number of steps again, and you do not see that always with Max,” Topuria stated, paying tribute to his opponent as Holloway suffered the primary knockout lack of his tenure in UFC.
“I hope to be a small portion of the instance that he has been for me, for the brand new era.”
Chimaev’s victory units up a doable title combat with Du Plessis
Within the co-main occasion, undefeated Chechen Khamzat Chimaev placed on one other dominant preventing show earlier than submitting former champion Robert Whittaker within the first spherical of their middleweight bout.
Chimaev wasted no time in taking down the Australian, utilizing his limpet grappling to manage Whittaker earlier than grabbing his again and grabbing a crank that appeared to dislocate his opponent’s jaw, forcing a really fast slam with 1:26 left to go in. the primary body.
Chimaev is now tipped to be the primary contender to combat South Africa’s Dricus Du Plessis for the UFC world middleweight title in early 2025, in what can be a blockbuster showdown.
