Ilia Topuria KOs Max Holloway to retain UFC featherweight mixed martial arts title

ABU DHABI – Champion Ilia Topuria overcame early adversity to score a thunderous third-round knockout victory over Hawaiian Max Holloway to retain the Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) featherweight title at UFC 308 at the Etihad Arena on Oct 26. 

The 27-year-old Topuria scored an early takedown but struggled to manage the distance through the first two frames of an intriguing title fight, but once he figured it out, the writing was on the wall for his opponent. 

Holloway, who defeated Jose Aldo to become undisputed featherweight champ in June 2017 but lost the belt in December 2019, used his dizzying array of strikes to keep his opponent at bay, but Topuria's piston-like right hand was a threat throughout. 

That right hand was what started Holloway’s demise, but it was a follow-up short left that sent Holloway crashing to the canvas and the Spain-based Topuria quickly followed him to the ground, raining down blows before referee Marc Goddard jumped in to stop the fight. 

“With that right hand, I felt it. I just saw it with him, in his face. He started making some steps back, and you don’t see that often with Max,” Topuria said, paying tribute to his opponent as Holloway, 32, suffered the first knockout loss of his UFC tenure. 

“I hope I’m going to be a small portion of the example he has been for me, for the new generation.”

In the co-main event, undefeated Khamzat Chimaev put on another dominant grappling display before submitting former champion Robert Whittaker in the first round of their middleweight bout to set himself up for a crack at the title. 

Chimaev wasted no time taking the Australian down, using his limpet-like wrestling to control Whittaker before taking his back and latching on to a face crank that appeared to dislocate his opponent’s jaw, forcing a very quick tap with 1min 26sec left to go in the first frame.

“I felt something was wrong with his chin when I pushed it. I didn’t mean to break somebody’s chin but this is my work, to make somebody’s pain and make me happy and my family,” Chimaev said.

Meanwhile, Dana White recently reached out to Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg for help with improving the UFC rankings system, possibly using artificial intelligence.

The UFC boss confirmed his conversations with the Meta chief executive during an interview on Oct 24 with TNT Sports.

“I could go on and on and on, but I won’t,” White said. “We literally had meetings this week to work on it. I actually talked to Mark Zuckerberg too, about AI, so yeah. I’m totally going to fix the rankings. We’re going to make a lot of strong moves here coming into 2025.”

White previously expressed his frustration with the current rankings that are voted on by a UFC-selected group of media outlets, a system that has been in place since 2013. REUTERS