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Turning in one of the most exciting finish in the history of the Octagon earlier this year, symbolic BMF champion, Max Holloway has urged fans to tune in for a similarly stunning stoppage at UFC 308 later this annum — as he takes on Ilia Topuria for the undisputed featherweight crown.

Holloway, a former undisputed featherweight titleholder under the banner of the promotion, is set to return to action in two months time at the end of October, travelling to Abu Dhabi, UAE to take on the unbeaten, Topuria in an undisputed featherweight championship clash.

Last time out, the Hawaiian favorite would land a spectacular buzzer-beating win over then-BMF champion, Justin Gaethje on the main card of UFC 300 back in April — flattening the Arizona native with a huge hook in the pocket, sending him to the canvas face-first.

As for Georgian-Spaniard, Topuria, the undefeated featherweight minted himself as undisputed gold holder back in February, felling common-opponent, Alexander Volkanovski with a vicious second round knockout — handing the Australian his first blemish at the featherweight limit to boot.

Max Holloway promises another spectacle in UFC 308 title fight

And predicting another exciting night of action on ‘Fight Island’ later this year in their UFC 308 headliner, Holloway vowed to land another stunning win, this time taking out Topuria.

“Every fight camp, it’s me versus me,” Max Holloway said on his official YouTube channel. “I got to go out there and I’ll outdo myself in every fight camp, you know?”

Everybody thought UFC 300 was amazing, wait till they get to see the outcome of UFC 308, it’s going to be a good one,” Max Holloway continued.

Earlier this month, Topuia issued a similar word of warning to Holloway — claiming the matchup with the ex-champion is tailor-made for his striking expertise.

“If he’s (Max Holloway) going to bring the same energy he brings in the last 10 seconds of every round, when he doest his (point to ground), I’m going to knock him out in the first round,” Ilia Topuria said. “Because in the moment he’s going to stop in the middle and start to exchange and punches with me. I recommend him to use a helmet, because he’s going to need.”

If he does it, even better for me,” Ilia Topuria explained. “Maybe I’m going to point to the ground. Maybe I will do all that because I’m going to feel so comfortable in that fight because I’m telling you, ever time I see him fight I’m like, ‘Everyone is going to be surprised when I knock him out,’ because I see him as luke such an easy matchup for me. If he thinks that I’m not right, prove me wrong. We’re going to be in the same Octagon, October 26. prove me wrong.”

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After capturing the bantamweight title at UFC 292 by stopping Aljamain Sterling, Sean O’Malley had revenge on his mind for his first title defense.  The lone blemish on O’Malley’s resume is a loss to Marlon “Chito” Vera in 2020.  O’Malley soundly defeated Vera in the rematch at UFC 299 in March winning every round on his way to a unanimous decision.  

Take a look back at O’Malley’s one-sided win over Vera ahead of his UFC 306 title defense.  O’Malley takes on top contender Merab Dvalishvili in the fight card’s main event on Sept. 14.

Sean O’Malley vs. Marlon Vera 2 Full Fight Video  

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Caio Borralho may have called out Dricus du Plessis following his UFC Vegas 96 win, but he expects the UFC middleweight title to change hands before he gets his shot at the belt.

“I got [Sean] Strickland winning this fight, maybe, because I think Strickland won the last one, but maybe he left a little bit inside the octagon that he could do a little bit more,” Borralho said Saturday at UFC Vegas 96’s post-fight press conference. “But MMA is crazy. I always bet against Dricus and he always wins, so I’m not betting on the next one.

“Let those guys kill themselves and I’m the next one [to challenge for the title].”

Du Plessis and Strickland are expected to meet in a rematch for the UFC middleweight title next following du Plessis’ successful title defense over Israel Adesanya at UFC 305. Du Plessis and Strickland previously met in January at UFC 293, where du Plessis stole away Strickland’s belt with a razor-thin split decision win.

Borralho, 31, has great interest in the outcome of that rematch following his victory over Jared Cannonier on Saturday night.

Borralho pushed his undefeated UFC record to 7-0 at UFC Vegas 96 by putting together the finest performance of his octagon career in his first UFC main event. Despite being known largely as a grappler, Borralho outstruck Cannonier in an all-standup affair and even nearly knocked out the one-time title challenger with a thunderous salvo of punches in the fifth round. The judges ultimately scored the bout unanimously in his favor (49-45, 49-45, 48-46), and Borralho left the UFC APEX proud of the statement he made to the division.

“I wasn’t there to grapple. I was there to bring fire and be comfortable in the danger, because Jared’s a very dangerous opponent,” Borralho said.

“My jab was was on point, my calf kicks were on point, and I just did the job. I almost got the finish. I think the ref should have finished it, should have stopped the fight [in the fifth round] because Jared was [hurt] very bad, but it is what it is. I’m very thankful to be there [for] 25 minutes with one of the best in the world — and tell me one guy that did that to Jared. Tell me. There’s no one that did that to Jared the way I did it.”

An integral member of Brazil’s fast-rising Fighting Nerds team, Borralho overcame a nasty cut below his right eye at UFC Vegas 96 to gut out a win in the final rounds. He said post-fight that he one day hopes to be compared to MMA legends like Georges St-Pierre and Jon Jones by being considered “one of the most intelligent guys that ever stepped into the octagon.” After gradually working his way up the UFC ladder since debuting with back-to-back appearances on the promotion’s Contender Series in 2021, Borralho believes he’s finally on the doorstep of proving that he and his team belong alongside MMA’s elite.

“I think [this win] takes me to one of the best in the world,” Borralho said. “Like, I’m top five right now. At least, I deserve a top-five spot on Tuesday. And I think I proved myself as one of the best in the division — that I can strike. That I cannot only grapple, I can strike. I have the grappling, I have the wrestling, I have the durability, I have the chin, I have the power.

“I think I showed everyone that tonight, and it’s just going to take me to my belt. The mantra of this training camp was to show the new champ arrived, and I think I showed that a little bit. If I’m not the next one [to fight for the title], at least when there’s a conversation about who’s the next one, my name is going to be around there. I know that.”

That being said, Borralho also made it clear that he’s not interested in slowing down. After racking up seven wins over his first 28 months under UFC contract, Borralho is more than happy to continue adding to his résumé while du Plessis and Strickland handle business.

“I want a title shot, that’s for sure, but I’m a company man,” Borralho said.

“Whoever Hunter [Campbell] and Dana [White] send me to fight, if they’re people above me or something like that, like the fight that I deserve, the fight that’s going to put me even more close to the belt, I’m going to take it, because I’m the company man.”

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Watch the UFC 305 highlights video and recap from Saturday’s UFC 305 main event between Dricus du Plessis and Israel Adesanya.

UFC 305 took place on Saturday, August 18th, at the RAC Arena in Perth, Australia

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Adesanya is drawing big crowds wherever he goes in Nigeria, Africa even without a UFC belt around his waist.

Israel Adesanya didn’t get to bring his former UFC middleweight belt back to Nigeria, but the fans there don’t seem to mind.

Adesanya dropped a fourth round submission loss to Dricus Du Plessis in the main event of UFC 305 on August 17th, ending his title contention for the immediate future. Despite the loss, he didn’t cancel plans to return home to his home country of Nigeria, where we’re seeing lots of great social media posts featuring the African UFC star.

There’s one video from Lagos where “The Last Stylebender” visited a grocery store and is crowded by fans who followed him through the building. Another shows Izzy and his family singing at a church service. Both times, the area was reportedly swamped with fans the moment people found out Adesanya was nearby.

He also met up with fellow UFC fighter Sodiq Yusuff to attend a local boxing event. The crowd gave Adesanya a big round of approval as he talked up the up and coming talent from the region.

“Energy never dies, it can be passed on and amplified,” Adesanya wrote in a post featuring pictures and videos from the event. “Bless the future, bless my people, their flame inspired me!”

He also shared some new information regarding his fight against Du Plessis, seeming to confirm something his former rival Alex Pereira guessed at in a recent video.

“We don’t talk about injuries, we don’t talk about problems,” Pereira said on his YouTube channel. “We are there, we want to fight, we want to win. No excuses. Maybe Adesanya had an injury, I don’t know. You could see he kicked very little. That inside leg kick of Adesanya is very good … he didn’t continue to do it … he is only throwing hands.”

“It’s weird how this guy knows me,” Adesanya wrote above a retweet of Pereira’s comments. “It’s like we’ve spent hours studying each other’s moves and fought multiple times or sumn’. I mean that.”

As of now there’s no hint as to what could be next for Israel Adesanya. Following the fight he confirmed he had no plans to retire, but also said he wasn’t planning on rushing back for another fight any time soon. But with his hometown crowd gassing him up so much, maybe we’ll hear something soon about the next time we can expect to see “The Last Stylebender” in the cage.

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