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More bad news for Sean Strickland.

Reigning UFC middleweight champion, Dricus Du Plessis, is expected to make his next 185-pound title defense at some point in early 2025. Prior to the UFC 308 pay-per-view (PPV) card, it was expected that former champion, Sean Strickland, would rematch “Stillknocks” after their close decision at UFC 297 back in January.

Then Khamzat Chimaev went and destroyed Robert Whittaker at UFC 308.

During the UFC 308 post-fight press conference, UFC CEO Dana White would not commit to the next opponent for Du Plessis, suggesting that his final decision would be worked out when matchmakers gathered on Tuesday to map out the next moves for all the competitors who went to war last weekend at Etihad Arena in Abu Dhabi.

Du Plessis, however, appears to favor Chimaev over Strickland.

“Feel really sorry for Rob [Whittaker] he looked super ready but this is the fight game,” the champ posted on Twitter, while also reposting a tweet that called for the “Borz” fight as soon as possible. “Well done on a good performance, Khamzat. That being said, I can’t wait to take your 0.”

Chimaev is undefeated at 14-0 with 12 finishes.

Even if the promotion opts to move forward with Chimaev, questions remain about his ability to answer the call. Strickland, despite his own issues, never has a problem making his fight dates and would likely be ready to compete at a moment’s notice. How much that influences White’s decision remains to be seen.

Stay tuned.

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UFC 308 went down this past weekend (Sat., Oct. 26, 2024) from inside Etihad Arena in Abu Dhabi, leaving several fighters feeling the post-fight blues. Among them was Armen Petrosyan, who fell victim to a rare double spinning backfist knockout courtesy of his former training partner, Shara Magomedov (see it again here).

And Robert Whittaker, who was on the wrong end of a very violent and painful submission defeat at the hands of Khamzat Chimaev, who broke “The Reaper’s” jaw with a powerful face crank (relive it here). But, which fighter is suffering from the worst post-fight hangover, now a few days removed from the show?

Max Holloway.

Coming into his headlining fight against Featherweight champion, Ilia Topuria, “Blessed” was riding high on confidence thanks to his last-second (literally) knockout win over Justin Gaethje to win the “BMF” title. Plus, he had championship experience on his side because this was his tenth title fight.

It wasn’t enough.

From the opening seconds of the fight, Topuria set the pace of how it was going to go, challenging “Blessed” to meet him in the center of the cage for a good old fire-fight. Surprisingly, Holloway didn’t engage and opted to play the calm, cool approach.

Once they began warming up, Topuria starting landing his shots, though Holloway wasn’t too far behind, using his volume attack to possibly steal round one. Undeterred, Topuria stuck to his strategy and started to find his range on the lanky fighter. In round three, he really started to get confident and rocked “Blessed” with a massive right hand that had him reeling. From there, he started to unload, calmly, one big shot after another until he landed a left hook that proved to be the kill shot.

It was the first time any fighter had ever stopped Holloway via strikes in the Hawaiian’s near 15-year professional mixed martial arts (MMA) career. And just like that, Topuria’s star got even brighter, while Holloway’s stock took a big hit.

After the fight, Holloway talked about the loss and what could be next for him, including a potential move to Lightweight.

“We’re all going to sit down with the team, relax,” he said during the post-fight presser. “There’s nothing needed to be rushing back to right now. But, I can try coming back in the summer, the big July card, right, in Vegas? Do something. We’ll see what happens. I mean, 155 looks really good right now.

“Like I said, I had the best 145 cut here,” he added. “But what else is there to do? I had a couple times to reclaim it. New guys coming up. Yeah, that’d be fun. But, I think 155 looks more fun, fighting more, the caliber, everyone there, and the names there, it looks really exciting to put my name in the mix.”

“Blessed” has already accomplished so much in his career at Featherweight that perhaps a permanent move up to 155 pounds is the best move. He won’t be getting another title shot at 145 pounds anytime soon, so perhaps he can make one last run at gold in a different division.

It won’t be easy because there are a lot of sharks in the division who would love nothing more than to add someone like Holloway to their hit list. As far as who could be realistic for him, a fight against the loser of the upcoming rematch between Michael Chandler vs. Charles Oliveira — who are set to throw down at UFC 309 next month — could be in order. You can’t just pare Holloway with any old body, for someone with his resume it has to be a fighter with a big name and championship experience, and Chandler and Oliveira both fit the bill perfectly.

Unless, of course, you have a better idea?

For complete UFC 308 results, coverage and highlights, click HERE.

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Middleweights, don’t call out “Stylebender.”

Shara “Bullet” Magomedov scored the biggest win of his Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) career at UFC 308 yesterday (Sat., Oct. 26, 2024) when he knocked out Armen Petrosyan with an incredible double spinning backfist (watch highlights).

After his $ 50k Performance of the Night winning knockout, Magomedov had a name on the tip of his tongue for his next opponent: former UFC Middleweight kingpin Israel Adesanya.

“I’m happy, very happy. Listen to me. I am the best striker in this division. I will smash Israel Adesanya. Stay in your seat. This island was captured by a pirate—don’t panic,” Magomedov said in his post-fight interview with Daniel Cormier.

Watch the call-out below:

Luckily for Shara “Bullet,” Adesanya was watching the card and enjoyed his knockout. However, the former champion was not fond of his call-out and called back to Will Smith’s infamous Academy Awards incident.

“Keep my name out of your f—king mouth,” Adesanya said while laughing. “What the f—k did I do? Why he say f—k me for?”

Obviously, Adesanya took the call out in stride, using the infamous ‘memes’ to help him out. But let’s be real: Magomedov is not fighting “Stylebender” next and will probably fight someone like Michel Pereira. However, the one-eyed fighter is in no rush to get to the former champion.

“I’m in no rush. I’m not running in front of the train. The only way for Israel Adesanya to avoid the fight with me is to retire,” Magomedov told the media during his post-fight interview. “Of course, I would like to fight Israel to prove that I’m the best striker in the division. But also, I would like to fight Marvin Vettori to prove that my wrestling is good. Those two names really excite me. Besides them, guys like Kevin Holland and Michel Pereira.

Magomedov added that he’s been chasing Adesanya since their kickboxing careers.

“I used to chase Israel when he fought kickboxing in China. I was fighting kickboxing in China, too. Now that he switched to MMA, and now that I’m here… I’m ready to fight him,” Magomedov said. “I beat his friend and sparring partner, Blood Diamond, in China, and I was ready to fight him. Israel was very popular in China, then he switched to MMA and signed to the UFC.”

Shara “Bullet” is 4-0 inside UFC and finally showed why he was so hyped.

For complete UFC 308 results, coverage, and highlights, click HERE.

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Well, okay then.

Ilia Topuria defended his Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) Featherweight championship in incredible fashion at UFC 308 yesterday (Sat., Oct. 26, 2024) when he became the first fighter to knock out UFC legend Max Holloway from inside Etihad Arena in Abu Dhabi, UAE (watch highlights).

It is safe to say most fighters were impressed by Topuria’s unbelievable feat of knocking out Holloway. One fighter who gave him props and immediately dissed the champion by saying he’d win in a fight was Lightweight Paddy Pimblett.

“Hand sanitizer boy with the win,” Pimblett said on his YouTube channel Heavy. Well done, Ilia, give you your due lad, 16-0 hand sanitizer boy. I can’t wait for him to come back up to Lightweight. I still think I’d beat him. I really do. I still think I beat him, lad. Whether he just beat Max Holloway or not. I still think I’d beat him by kicking him on the feet or taking him down and submitting him.”

To be fair to Pimblett, what was he supposed to say? Especially with the bad blood between the two.

While Pimblett may have all the faith in the world that he beats Topuria, the internet does not.

Some other thoughts on “Baddy’s” crazy take were the following:

Buddy is a special kind of stupid

Even he doesn’t look like he thinks that

Buddy had to repeat himself 3x. Even he doesnt believe that shit haha

Bro was getting hit by washed 0-7 Tony lmao

This is the dude that went to decision with 2023 Tony Ferguson

Paddy lad Max is as tall and you don’t even have a third of his talent in terms of distance management and takedown defense. Your jits is great but it isn’t carrying you over Ilia, come on now.

He’d get his block knocked off.

Topuira would do inhumane things to paddy. Let’s set it up.

As mentioned, Topuria and Pimblett do not like each other and have almost come to blows a few times. Pimblett threw a hand sanitizer bottle at Topuria in 2022.

As of June 2023, Topuria closed the door on the potential matchup.

Nevertheless, Pimblett is waiting for his next fight after dispatching Bobby Green, while Topuria is riding high while knocking out two Featherweight greats back-to-back.

For complete UFC 308 results, coverage, and highlights, click HERE.

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Whittaker provided some good news and some bad news after suffering a grisly injury at the hands of Chimaev in Abu Dhabi.

Jawbreaker? Not quite.

Robert Whittaker suffered a grisly submission loss to Khamzat Chimaev in the co-main event of UFC 308 on Saturday night (watch the highlights here).

The Australian’s gameplan was clear: survive the initial “Borz” blitz and then take the fight to Khamzat in the later rounds. Unfortunately, he never managed to get past the first — Chimaev’s grappling was too strong and he took Whittaker’s back, locking up a face crank that had “The Reaper” tapping quick.

You don’t normally see taps to face cranks — the (questionable) general consensus is they’re painful but not really a finishing move. But between Chimaev’s tight squeeze and his arm positioning, he seriously f—ed up Whittaker’s mouth. Photos came out soon after the fight showing half of the former champion’s teeth caved backwards into his mouth.

“As soon as that happened, I picked up the phone and I called the truck,” UFC CEO Dana White said of the submission at the UFC 308 post-fight press conference. “They’re like, ‘Yeah, his jaw popped.’ … When you do that, it splits and the teeth get all messed up. Rob has that right now.”

So pretty much everyone from White to orthopedic sports surgeons thought Whitaker’s mandible had been broken, possible in multiple places. Fortunately, we can now update you straight from “The Reaper’s” own mangled mouth: his jaw is in one piece. His teeth? That’s another story.

“It’s a tough gig sometimes but that’s the business,” Whittaker wrote in an Instagram statement. “Big congratulations to Khamzat, he was the better man tonight and that’s all there is to it. I felt great, everything was on point and I was ready. My jaw is good, but my teeth were moved in. It’s a good excuse to fix them properly now haha.”

Some fans and media have suggested the injury should push Whittaker towards retirement, but the 33 year old sounds nowhere near done.

“I’m disappointed, but I come back better from every setback and every challenge so this is no different,” he wrote. “I want to thank my team and everyone who supported me to get here. Time to go spend time with the family for a bit. Be back soon.”

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After McGregor suggested he’d cave Topuria’s head in, the featherweight champion responded with his own fiery declaration of war.

Conor McGregor had plenty to say about Ilia Topuria following the featherweight champion’s brutal knockout win over Max Holloway at UFC 308 (watch the finish here).

Holloway had never been knocked out before in his career — and that included a 2013 fight with the Mac that went to decision. That didn’t stop “The Notorious” from challenging and then throwing shade at the man who now holds his 145 pound belt on X (formerly Twitter).

“Call me,” McGregor tweeted in a series of since-deleted posts, before adding “Cave his head in handy.”

“Good little fighter, too small for anything substantial IMO,” McGregor continued. “He was getting chewed up there.”

“Few [featherweights] now in the mix, and I beat every single one of them. I am that divisions menace. Point blank. Everyone on that list I hurt badly and finish. Not one of them lay a glove on King Mac.”

It’s worth mentioning that McGregor hasn’t fought at featherweight for 9 years now and was set to fight at welterweight for UFC 303 before he withdrew due to a broken pinky toe. It’s kind of crazy to hear him call out 145ers, but at this point his age and inactivity do make a matchup with Topuria an interesting possibility. Meet in the middle at 155?

For his part, “El Matador” turned on his own trash talk after being read some of McGregor’s tweets in a post-fight interview with ESPN.

“I don’t know what to say. He’s fake,” Topuria said. “He’s a fake, he fakes the comeback every time. He insults everyone in the UFC. He’s like, ‘I don’t care about anyone, I don’t respect anyone.’”

“Bro, you’re sick. You have some problems to fix in your in your mind. You need to take some classes of respect or have to trade the people [around you] because you’re gonna end up really, really bad. When you follow this kind of value in your life, you’re gonna end up really bad.”

“So ask to God you don’t cross paths with me never ever,” Topuria concluded. “Because I’m gonna f— you up whenever I’m gonna see you.”

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Last night (Sat., Oct. 26, 2024), Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) ventured forth to Etihard Arena in Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates for UFC 308. This card stood out as one of the most exciting in recent memory. Highly skilled and generally action-heavy athletes filled the ranks, and the main event of Ilia Topuria vs. Max Holloway was perhaps the best single booking in the sport right now. Whittaker vs. Khamzat and Ankalaev vs. Rakic could easily be seen as title eliminator match ups, so there was a lot on the line for several divisions.

Let’s take a look back over at UFC 308’s best performances and techniques:

Photo by Chris Unger/Zuffa LLC

El Matador Cracks The Blessed Chin

Ilia Topuria isn’t going anywhere.

There were questions about Topuria after he dethroned Alexander Volkanovski. It was an undeniably impressive win by any metric, but detractors pointed to Volkanovski’s recent KO loss and a favorable style match up. To be clear: nobody was saying that Topuria was a bad fighter, but not everyone believed he was a generational talent either.

It’s a lot harder to doubt now. Holloway came into this fight with an excellent game plan and found real success with his excellent lead hand, snapping Topuria’s head back. He landed quite a few hard kicks up the middle. His strategy of stranding Topuria at distance and out-landing the shorter man worked to some degree.

The problem is that Topuria is unshakable. The Spaniard came in with his own sound strategy, working behind the double jab, aiming to come across the jab with his right, and shredding Holloway’s lead leg with calf kicks. Holloway was put in a difficult position: his jab was clearly his best weapon, but by firing the jab so often, Topuria was able to destroy that left leg in kind.

Holloway couldn’t deter Topuria off his pressure and pocket exchanges. As Holloway’s leg grew more battered and he was able to evade with movement, he started finding himself hit more and more often. Topuria’s ungodly power was already a huge problem, but he really hammered the nail into the coffin by starting to punch the body.

Early in the third, Topuria landed two hard right hands to the torso. Moments later, Holloway was stumbling from a shot upstairs, and there’s no better finisher along the fence than Topuria. Even as “Blessed” smartly side-stepped one big combo and even landed a knee counter for another, a massive Topuria left hook floored him for the first time (officially).

And still!

Photo by Chris Unger/Zuffa LLC

Khamzat Breaks Whittaker

It’s not so often the ending of a fight leaves me feeling speechless.

For roughly three minutes, everything was as expected. The early Khamzat blitz is pretty much unstoppable. There’s no denying his first couple takedowns. It simply hasn’t been done in the Octagon. Surviving the barrage is the best option though, and Whittaker is an excellent grappler and wrestler, so that felt rather feasible.

For those three minutes, Whittaker survived well. He was preventing the full back take, trying to inch back to his feet, and generally avoiding any monster punches. The first time Chimaev really tried to throw in hooks, Whittaker spun his way to freedom and briefly was back on his feet!

“Borz,” still in the midst of that relentless sprint, put him right back down of course — nothing unexpected. What was shocking, however, was that just a few seconds later Whittaker was tapping FRANTICALLY. Chimaev was in the midway position between mount and back mount when he attacked the rear naked choke, but his angle didn’t seem perfect and Whittaker’s chin was still down. Despite the less-than-ideal circumstance, he was able to finish the submission nearly in an instant.

The moment was stunning, the type of exchange that makes me question my 15 years of grappling experience. I’ve never seen a choke just destroy a jaw the second it is in place. The strength of “Borz” has to be immense!

The bottom line, however, is that Khamzat Chimaev just made himself undeniable at 185-pounds, and his title shot versus Dricus Du Plessis should be booked immediately.

Photo by Chris Unger/Zuffa LLC

Ankalaev Earns The Win, But Does He Score The Title Shot?

There’s no question Magomed Ankalaev SHOULD be next in line for Alex Pereira.

Prior to this fight, however, Ankalaev revealed that UFC were expecting an exciting performance from him if that fight was to happen. Meanwhile, this bout was thoroughly okay. Rakic remained heavily committed to his kick-and-move strategy, which prevented any huge moments from either man. Instead, Ankalaev slowly separated himself from the Austrian on the strength of his boxing, primarily that educated left hand. His decision win was clear, but it wasn’t exactly a “Fight of the Night” or KO win.

Hopefully, the politics are pushed aside. Ankalaev deserves his shot, and he can challenge “Poatan” in all aspects of MMA. It’s far from a washout match up though — it’s just a reasonable challenge for a fan favorite champion.

Photo by Chris Unger/Zuffa LLC

DOUBLE SPINNING BACKFIST!

For the second time in a row, I walked away from a Shara Magomedov fight thinking, “Maybe this guy is better than I thought.” Even having picked him to win, Magomedov performed at a higher level than in previous appearances.

Part of that level up is because Armen Petrosyan forced it out of him. “Superman” landed some very hard shots in this fight. The two are former training partners, and Petrosyan understood the Shara “Bullet” task. He pressed his fellow Russian to the fence, started touching his lead leg, and then entered with powerful punches. That’s exactly the correct approach, and it worked really well for a couple minutes. For a moment, an upset appeared to be brewing.

Magomedov’s speed, timing, and durability are special though. He began to attack as soon as Petrosyan initiated, firing powerful punches the moment Petrosyan inched forward. He was still getting hit, but his intercepting blows were landing a whole lot harder. Those counters stole away Petrosyan’s confidence to pressure, and he ended up stranded at range like any other Magomedov foe (though still more skilled at distance than most of them).

The finish was a cherry on top. I’m not sure the TWO spinning backfists in a row finish is anything other than throwing enough at the wall that something eventually sticks, but … it was AWESOME!

Photo by Chris Unger/Zuffa LLC

Undercard Banger of the Year?

Mateusz Rebecki vs. Myktybek Orolbai will be remembered as one of the best and bloodiest fights of 2024. Neither man wasted any time in getting the fight moving, as Orolbai walked through a lot of left hands and jabs in pursuit of his pressure. By the end of the first, his eye was already swelling badly and nearly closed.

Orolbai rebounded in the second, even if that process still involved taking plenty of heavy shots. He was able to get the wrestling going a bit, but more meaningfully, landed a few hard right hands. Entering into the third, both men were extremely bloody and quite battered from 10 hard minutes of combat.

The chaos compounded tremendously in the final five. Rebecki floored Orolbai early, nearly finishing the fight with a ridiculous flurry of blows. Somehow, Orolbai turned full zombie and just stood up in the middle of it while taking full power shots to the face! He even managed to return the favor soon afterward, hurting Rebecki and chasing the stoppage himself.

With the canvas painted red, Rebecki’s hand was raised via split-decision. A tremendous rebound for the Polish fighter, this win proves that Rebecki shouldn’t be counted out solely for losing an excellent fight to the extremely experienced Carlos Diego Ferreira.

Photo by Chris Unger/Zuffa LLC

Additional Thoughts

• Ibo Aslan defeats Raffael Cerqueira via first-round knockout (highlights): Aslan just might be a problem at 205-pounds. The Turkish prospect very much walked through Cerqueira, hurting him with the first punch he threw, a quick left hook counter to an early low kick. Cerqueira backed into the fence, and Aslan chased him down with an endless combination. He mixed some shots to the body well and was snapping Cerqueira’s chin back repeatedly. The Brazilian seemed frozen in place while he took punches-in-bunches, prompting the end of the contest.
• Geoff Neal defeats Rafael dos Anjos via first-round knockout: Neal looked really sharp for as long as this fight lasted. Rather than work the outside like usual, the Southpaw was on his front foot, firing in combination. His piston-like left hand floored “RDA” twice in a couple minutes, and somewhere in there, the Brazilian injured his knee too. At 40 years of age, it’s not a shock that dos Anjos is finally slowing down, but this was a great rebound for Neal nevertheless.
• Abus Magomedov defeats Brunno Ferreira via third-round arm triangle choke (highlights): You may read this result and think, “Wow, Magomedov must have really improved his notoriously bad conditioning to win in the third round.” WRONG! The key here is that Ferreira’s conditioning was simply worse. Magomedov wrestled quite well in the first, got tired and bonked in the second, and then was struggling to breath to start the third. Fortunately for him, however, he was able to score a desperate takedown early in the final frame, allowing him a bit of rest and the chance to dominate a gassed opponent (rather than the opposite).
• Kennedy Nzechukwu defeats Chris Barnett via first-round knockout (highlights): Well, this sucked. Fan favorite Barnett entered as a huge underdog but never got much of a chance to prove the oddsmaker’s wrong. He injured his knee jumping in the cage before the fight even started and then was a sitting duck for Nzechukwu’s combinations. Unfortunate!

For complete UFC 308 results and play-by-play, click HERE!

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Robert Whittaker had his jaw and teeth re-arranged earlier today (Sat., Oct. 26, 2024) at UFC 308 live on ESPN+ pay-per-view (PPV) from inside Etihad Arena in Abu Dhabi, UAE, when undefeated middleweight contender Khamzat Chimaev ended him with a first-round face crank submission.

While Chimaev came into this fight with an unscathed record many believed Whittaker’s quickness, experience, and well-rounded skill set could be enough to subdue “Borz.” Unfortunately, Whittaker really didn’t get a good chance to display his own gameplan as Chimaev rushed in and quickly took him down in the opening moments of the fight.

Whittaker, who has shown to have a solid ground game, was able to stand back up once before Khamzat dragged him down again. From that point on it was all Chimaev as the middleweight sensation sliced through Whittaker and grabbed a hold of his head and neck. Before Chimaev was able to apply a rear-naked choke he attacked Whittaker’s jawline and ended up dislocating it. He took out some teeth on the way. Whittaker had no option but to tap.

The finish can be seen HERE.

After the co-main event beatdown, UFC color commentator Daniel Cormier got a hold of a photo of Whittaker’s broken mouth and shared it. As you may imagine, Whittaker’s jaw and teeth were absolutely destroyed. It’s a testament to Chimaev’s strength, technique, and ability to make the most seasoned fighters look normal.

Check out the NSFW photo below:

For complete UFC 308 results, coverage and highlights click HERE.

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UFC 308 results, live streaming updates for “Topuria vs. Holloway”-led pay-per-view (PPV) TODAY (Sat., Oct. 26, 2024) on ESPN+.

Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) brings us UFC 308 TODAY (Sat., Oct. 26, 2024), streaming LIVE on ESPN+ PPV from inside Etihad Arena in Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates. UFC 308’s pay-per-view (PPV) main event is a can’t miss match-up with Featherweight champion, Ilia Topuria, taking on the BMF — and former Featherweight kingpin — Max Holloway. This one is likely to get spicy (like some of the interviews between these two lately).

UFC 308’s PPV co-main event sees the return of the mercurial Khamzat Chimaev. He will fight Robert Whittaker in a make-up date from a fight that was supposed to happen in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. The winner of this 185-pound showdown will almost certainly be thrust toward the front of the Middleweight line and be set for the winner of Dricus Du Plessis vs. Sean Strickland (or will it?).

The stacked PPV main card also has Lerone Murphy vs. Dan Ige, Magomed Ankalaev vs. Aleksandar Rakic and Shara Magomedov vs. Armen Petrosyan.

There’s plenty to get excited about on UFC 308’s “Prelims”, too.

Those are headlined by Geoff Neal versus ex-UFC Lightweight champion, Rafael dos Anjos. The undercard also features rising talent Farid Basharat vs. Victor Hugo and brutal knockout artist Brunno Fereira vs. Abus Magomedov. You can checkout everything that happened on UFC 308’s “Prelims” undercard right here.

UFC 308 START TIME AND DATE

MMAmania.com will deliver LIVE round-by-round, blow-by-blow coverage of the entire UFC 308 fight card below, starting with the ESPN+ “Prelims” undercard bouts, which air at 10 a.m. ET. That’s followed by the UFC 308’s PPV main card, which will start at 2 p.m ET on ESPN+ PPV.

Keep in mind that we will also be the spot for the latest news, recaps and post-fight analysis following “Topuria vs. Holloway.” Without further delay, see below for the updated UFC 308 results. (Note: This will go from the top down; therefore, the newest information will at the top of the stream).

UFC 308 QUICK RESULTS

145 lbs.: Ilia Topuria vs. Max Holloway
185 lbs.: Robert Whittaker vs. Khamzat Chimaev
205 lbs.: Magomed Ankalaev vs. Aleksandar Rakic — Ankalaev def. Rakic via unanimous decision (29-28, 39-28, 29-28)
145 lbs.: Dan Ige vs. Lerone Murphy —Murphy def. Ige via unanimous decision (29-28, 29-28, 29-28)
185 lbs.: Shara Magomedov vs. Armen Petrosyan — Magomedov def. Petrosyan via TKO (double back fists), round 2 (4:52) — HIGHLIGHTS!
205 lbs.: Ibo Aslan vs. Raffael Cerqueira — Aslan def. Cerqueira via TKO (punches), round 1 (0:51)
170 lbs.: Geoff Neal vs. Rafael dos Anjos — Neal def. Dos Anjos via TKO (injury), round 1 (1:30)
160 lbs.: Myktybek Orolbai vs. Mateusz Rebecki — Rebecki def. Orolbai via split decision (29-28, 28-29, 29-28)
185 lbs.: Abus Magomedov vs. Brunno Ferreira — Magomedov def. Ferreira via submission (arm triangle), round 3 (3:14)
265 lbs.: Kennedy Nzechukwu vs. Chris Barnett — Nzechukwu def. Barnett via TKO (punches and knee), round 1 (4:29)
145 lbs.: Farid Basharat vs. Victor Hugo — Basharat def. Hugo via unanimous decision (30-27, 29-28, 29-28)
185 lbs.: Ismail Naurdiev vs. Bruno Silva — Naurdiev def. SIlva via unanimous decision (30-27, 30-27, 30-27)
170 lbs.: Rinat Fakhretdinov vs. Carlos Leal — Fakhretdinov def. Leal by unanimous decision (29-28, 29-28, 30-27)

UFC 308 PPV MAIN CARD PLAY-BY-PLAY UPDATES

Photo by Chris Unger/Zuffa LLC via Getty Images

To check out the latest and greatest UFC 308: “Topuria vs. Holloway” news and notes be sure to hit up our comprehensive event archive right here.

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Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) Featherweight champions Ilia Topuria and Max Holloway will clash TONIGHT (Sat., Oct. 26, 2024) at UFC 308 from Etihad Arena in Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates.

Topuria enters his first title defense with an outright annoying amount of self-confidence, but can anyone blame the 27-year-old “Matador” for feeling atop the world? His UFC career couldn’t be going any more smoothly. The undefeated champion is handing out knockouts with regularity and has utterly dominated all of his opponents — he’s earned a bit of swagger.

On the flip side, Holloway has been the young champion, seen rises and falls, and still emerged as one of the best in the world. Really, who has suffered more painful title defeats and blown away expectations at the highest level more than Holloway? His career is one-of-a-kind, and the Hawaiian can build on his legacy further by dethroning the first standout champion of the next generation.

Let’s take a closer look at the betting odds and strategic keys for each athlete:

Photo by Francois Nel/Zuffa LLC

Topuria vs. Holloway Betting Odds

• Ilia Topuria victory: -230
• Ilia Topuria via TKO/KO/DQ: +175
• Ilia Topuria via submission: +500
• Ilia Topuria via decision: +250
• Max Holloway victory: +190
• Max Holloway via TKO/KO/DQ: +550
• Max Holloway via submission: +2500
• Max Holloway via decision: +400
• Odds via DraftKings Sportsbook

Photo by Chris Unger/Zuffa LLC via Getty Images

How Topuria Wins

Topuria is much more of a bull than matador. He’s not sloppy — with the exception of the Bryce Mitchell fight, in which it was clear Topuria had ZERO regard for his opponent — but Topuria excels at inching towards his opponents, backing them to the fence, then unleashing heinously powerful combinations.

Despite Topuria’s wrestling and grappling expertise, this feels like a striking match, because nobody has ever been able to ground Holloway consistently. It would probably be a waste of energy to really try, though a takedown feint or two is never a bad idea to keep the Hawaiian honest.

For Topuria, this bout is all about closing through Holloway’s varied range offense of jabs, teeps, and side kicks. Holloway is very, very good at stranding opponents on the edge of his feints and distance strikes. Topuria just had to deal with a similar challenge in Volkanovski, but Holloway has a lot more tools at his disposal.

Getting inside means taking away Holloway’s weapons. Topuria’s calf kick should return with a vengeance, both as a counter to the jab and return off Holloway’s kicks. The Spanish athlete has to be mindful in identifying the real jabs from the fakes — jabbing with Holloway could help here — and then fire when he gets his timing.

Ultimately, Topuria has to make the most of his moments when Holloway’s back is to the fence. Knocking out Holloway may be functionally impossible, but hurting him can still win the fight.

Photo by Jeff Bottari/Zuffa LLC via Getty Images

How Holloway Wins

Holloway is the greatest volume striker in UFC history, and he pairs that legendary cardio with a versatile approach to kickboxing. We’ve seen Holloway pressure and fight at distance, work from both stances, and even adjust his positioning entirely based on the opponent.

Despite being one of the most fearsome punchers Holloway has ever faced, this fight may call for an increase in pressure and aggression. Topuria has grown very accustomed to fighters feeling less-than-confident in exchanges, meaning he gets to dictate the pace and explode forward into punches.

We really haven’t seen Topuria forced onto his back foot. Josh Emmett had the power to try, but he’s never been a pressure boxer and was content to work from the outside. Holloway, conversely, has the skill, durability, and experience to try to force Topuria onto his back foot. That’s not to say he should be reckless, but there’s every chance Topuria’s counters aren’t nearly as powerful as his charges.

Otherwise, I’d really like to see Holloway pull out all of his kicking tools here. Topuria fights mostly as a boxer, and Holloway can best take advantage of that with a variety of kicks. He should be side kicking the thigh, blasting power rounds kicks from both stances, spinning, and following punches with high kicks to both sides, trying to catch Topuria slipping into his shin.

Photo by Chris Unger/Zuffa LLC via Getty Images

Topuria vs. Holloway Prediction

It’s really hard to go against the fighter who looks the part of a future pound-for-pound king.

Holloway is great and still has plenty left in the tank. He has more tools on the feet and could win the fight in a variety of ways. The head kick KO shouldn’t be discounted. Unfortunately, it’s just too hard to overlook the fact that Holloway has never been impossible to hit, and Topuria has nuclear bombs in his fists. If any combination is going to put Holloway cold, I would bet on that Topuria 2-3-2.

Bottom line: Holloway gives a good account of himself, but the speed and power of the younger champion generally lets him dictate exchanges and win the fight.

Prediction: Topuria via decision (+250)

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