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MMA: Mixed Martial Arts

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MMA: Mixed Martial Arts

Max Holloway sent a message to Ilia Topuria ahead of their blockbuster fight later this month.

Holloway challenges Topuria for the UFC featherweight title in the main event of UFC 308 Oct. 26 in Abu Dhabi. Holloway, the current BMF champ after his incredible knockout of Justin Gaethje at UFC 300, let Topuria know who the real “BMF” titleholder is in a recent Instagram post.

Holloway and Topuria recently had a heated combo interview with Brendan Fitzgerald, where Topuria put a BMF title on his shoulder. In the post, Holloway says his belt was “earned not bought.”

Topuria captured the UFC featherweight title with a brutal knockout of Alexander Volkanovski at UFC 298 in February. “El Matador” improved his overall record to 15-0, including a 7-0 start to his surging UFC career.

Holloway lost the featherweight title to Volkanovski, and came up short in two other rematches. Since a lopsided decision loss to Volkanovski in their third meeting at UFC 276 in July 2022, “Blessed” is 3-0 with wins over Gaethje, Arnold Allen, and Chan Sung Jung.

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MMA: Mixed Martial Arts

Justin Gaethje is nearing a return to action in the UFC, but likely won’t fight until sometime in 2025.

While no exact date has been revealed yet, Gaethje’s longtime manager Ali Abdelaziz revealed that the former “BMF” champion is still taking the necessary time to recover from his knockout loss to Max Holloway at UFC 300 this past April before booking his next fight. Gaethje has always been adamant about allowing his brain and body to heal after a hard fight, which is why fans probably won’t see him back in action this year.

“Justin Gaethje’s going to fight in March,” Abdelaziz told MMA Fighting. “Against who, I have no idea.”

Arguably the most exciting fighter in the UFC, Gaethje seems to find a way to make all of his appearances entertaining, which is why he’s never been picky when it comes to a list of potential opponents.

Abdelaziz admitted there are a few names at the top of the list, but Gaethje has never shied away from anybody the UFC has offered him in the past and that’s highly unlikely to change now.

“It can be [Dan] Hooker. It can be Dustin Poirier. It can be [Renato] Moicano,” Abdelaziz said. “Whatever it is. I don’t know but I would like to see Justin fight in March. He needs a little bit of time to recover after his last fight. He deserves that.”

Following a stunning knockout of Dustin Poirier in July 2023, Gaethje returned with a marquee fight booked against Holloway at UFC 300 in April.

Unfortunately for Gaethje, that fight didn’t go his way after he suffered a brutal broken nose in the first round when Holloway caught him with a perfectly timed spin kick. In the end, Gaethje battled it out with Holloway until the final second when he threw down with the former featherweight champion in a wild exchange that saw Holloway catch Gaethje with a punch that ended his night at 4:59 in the fifth round.

Now, as Gaethje looks to bounce back and return to the win column, Abdelaziz says he is happy to fight whoever the UFC throws at him once he’s ready to fight.

“I think he’ll be ready in March to fight,” Abdelaziz said. “Against who? Justin Gaethje doesn’t pick opponents.”

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UFC

Topuria didn’t hold back in his latest personal attack against Muhammad. A wise move leading into UFC 308 in Abu Dhabi?

Ilia Topuria is raising the temperature on his trash talk as his highly anticipated UFC 308 featherweight title defense against Max Holloway approaches.

Sure, Holloway has been getting his fair share of attention. But Topuria doesn’t discriminate. He’s been dismissing champions across multiple weight classes, from Islam Makhachev to Belal Muhammad.

In a recent Instagram Live Q&A, Topuria once again torched Muhammad, suggesting he’d lose in his recently announced main event against Shavkat Rakhmonov at UFC 310.

“Shavkat [will win], Belal is a fake champion,” Topuria said. “Fake. I think right now in the welterweight division the one who will come back and take the belt again is Kamaru Usman. Easy work for Usman.”

Muhammad didn’t take long to fire back.

“Didn’t this dork just buy a fake BMF belt to pose with?” he wrote on X (formerly Twitter). “He’s starting to become the Georgian version of Colby Covington.”

That led Ilia to go scorched earth.

NO FINISHES. NO KNOCKOUTS. NO KNOCKDOWNS. NO GIRLFRIEND. NO KIDS,” Topuria tweeted. “BELAL HAS NEVER FINISHED ANY MAN OR WOMAN.”

It’s a shame the two are so far apart in weight classes because this is turning into quite the beef. And just when you wonder if Topuria is just being chaotic like Covington, he drops one of the coldest disses possible without any of Colby’s mush mouth mistakes.

He’ll have to be on guard, though … UFC 308 goes down in Abu Dhabi and half the fighters he’s dissed are gonna be in attendance. There’s already been not-so-subtle hints from Team Makhachev that “El Matodor” will have to olé his way through fight week to avoid fisticuffs.

Things are coming to a boil already. What will they look like next week on the ground, and will they distract Topuria from the real task at hand, which is the insanely dangerous Max Holloway?

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MMA: Mixed Martial Arts

Ilia Topuria and Belal Muhammad have beef.

Topuria is the UFC featherweight champion while Muhammad holds the welterweight title, and given there’s an entire weight class between the two champions, you might not expect the two to have problems with one another. You would be wrong.

Though Topuria is just weeks away from his first featherweight title defense, “El Matador” recently did an Instagram Live where he had some harsh words for Muhammad and his recently announced title defense against Shavkat Rakhmonov for UFC 310.

“Belal vs. Shavkat? Shavkat,” Topuria said. “Belal, he’s a fake champ. He’s a fake. I think right now in the welterweight division, the one who will come back and take the belt again is Kamaru Usman, in my opinion. Easy work for Usman.”

Muhammad defeated Leon Edwards for the welterweight title back at UFC 304, after Edwards took the belt from Usman and successfully defended against him in their rematch in 2023.

Of course, Muhammad wasn’t fond of Topuria’s trash talk and responded in kind on Twitter on Sunday, mocking Topuria in a similar fashion to how Max Holloway did earlier this week.

“Didn’t this dork just buy a fake ‘BMF’ belt to pose with… he’s starting to become the Georgian version of Colby Covington.”

Muhammad’s response then set off an exchange between the two via Twitter where the champions continued to rip into one another.

“Belal ‘Crotch Sniffer’ Muhammad”

“NO FINISHES

“NO KNOCKOUTS

“NO KNOCKDOWNS

“NO GIRLFRIEND

“NO KIDS

“BELAL HAS NEVER FINISHED ANY MAN OR WOMAN”

“Now you’re just copying stuff word for word off memes. [Laughing emoji]”

In other circumstances, the beef between these two could all be laying the groundwork for an eventual champ vs. champ fight, but given the weight disparity that seems unlikely. Instead it appears we’ve got some good, old-fashioned beef just for the sake of it.

But neither man has much time to dwell on this feud as they both have pressing business to attend to. Topuria defends his featherweight title against Max Holloway at UFC 308 on Oct. 26 in Abu Dhabi, while Muhammad puts his belt on the line against Rakhmonov at UFC 310 on Dec. 7 in Las Vegas.

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