Undefeated Ilia Topuria captured the featherweight title at UFC 298 in February by knocking out longtime titleholder Alexander Volkanovski. Who he’ll fight next and when remains up in the air.
The biggest fight the promotion can put together for Topuria is either a rematch with Volkanovski or a match against former two-time titleholder Max Holloway. According to UFC commentator Joe Rogan, Topuria turned down a rematch with Volkanovski for UFC 305 in Perth, Australia.
Topuria would like to set the terms for facing Holloway, but former two-division champion Daniel Cormier isn’t so sure that Topuria has much of a say.
“Ilia Topuria is the champ, and as the champ, at times, you have some say into who you’re going to fight, when you’re going to fight him, when you’re ready, and all of that,” Cormier said on his YouTube channel. “I don’t know, though, if he has as much say in this as he thinks he does.
“Max Holloway to me is clearly the guy. If not, [it’s] Alexander Volkanovski. Max told me that. Him and I spoke personally, and he goes, ‘I thought Volk was going to get a rematch. How in the world does he not get a rematch?’ This is coming from the guy that’s waiting for the title fight. But he recognizes, ‘Look, man, this dude beat me three times, long reigning champion, if anyone deserves an immediate rematch, it’s this guy,’ but it doesn’t sound like that’s happening for Alexander Volkanovski.”
Related: Robert Whittaker: ‘I bring an arsenal that Khamzat Chimaev’s not ready for’
Cormier would like to see Topuria commit to facing Holloway next and set a timeframe for the fight to happen. Once that occurs, the ball would be in Holloway’s court.
“I think Ilia Topuria needs to come right out and say, ‘Hey, I want Max Holloway on this date.’ Then it would be on Max,” Cormier said. “Because now, Max is the guy — and sure he has the ‘BMF’ title — but he wants the featherweight championship. Ilia has that. When Ilia says, ‘I want this fight on this date,’ Max will have to say, ‘Okay,’ or he will say no and they will move on.
“And then Ilia Topuria, at that point, can then start to go, ‘I don’t want to fight him. He had his chance, he could’ve did it then, he didn’t want to play by the rules.’ He has to make a statement saying, ‘This is what I want as the champ,’ and then put the ball in Max’s court to deny it. But right now, it’s not coming off great, because he’s batting away all of these guys with no clear idea of who else there is.”
Steve Erceg has received a warm welcome in Brazil so far. He isn’t expecting the reception to be so positive on fight night.
In the main event of UFC 301 this Saturday at Farmasi Arena in Rio de Janeiro, Erceg challenges Brazilian flyweight champion Alexandre Pantoja. The event marks the the promotion’s first visit to Rio since UFC 283 in January 2023, a night that ended in disappointment with home country favorites Glover Teixeira and Deiveson Figueiredo both losing their titles.
Figueiredo dropped his belt to longtime rival Brandon Moreno, who exited the arena with a hoard of agitated fans directing their frustration at him. Erceg is looking forward to that reaction should he defeat Pantoja.
“I definitely expect the same,” Erceg said at UFC 301 media day. “To go out there and get a finish would be amazing and then yeah, I expect bottles to be thrown at me as I leave the arena, but I think that’s part of the authentic Brazilian experience.”
With fight night still days away, Erceg said that he’s had a great time in Rio so far, with fans showing none of the hostility that he’s anticipating this weekend. The soft-spoken Australian has endeared himself to fans with a 3-0 mark in the UFC and an entertaining fighting style that has earned him two Performance of the Night bonuses.
His quirky personality has also garnered some attention. For his face-off with Pantoja this week, Erceg showed up wearing a plain blue shirt, looking more like a tourist than a UFC headliner.
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“It’s not a fashion contest, so I’m just here wearing what I think is comfortable,” Erceg said of his attire. “I am a tourist, so I’m over here doing my part to enjoy the scenery as well as come here and fight some guy.”
Despite the strong start to his UFC career and an 11-fight win streak dating back to his days on Australia’s regional scene, Erceg has frequently been referred to as an unlikely title fight challenger. His wins over Matt Schnell, Alessandro Costa, and David Dvorak don’t jump off the page in terms of name value, but with Pantoja having defeated several top 10 opponents multiple times and other flyweight contenders unavailable, Erceg got the call.
Erceg is well aware of the circumstances that resulted in his title fight opportunity and he vows not to squander it.
“I know that I wasn’t on the top of everybody’s mind when it came to a title shot, but the way the division was, Pantoja had already beaten all of the challengers. People are injured. The only other guy that really was in line for the shot was [Muhammad] Mokaev and I was on the same card as him, I had a more exciting fight than he did and the UFC decided to give me the shot.
“I’m here to be the best guy in the world, so whether I’m an underdog, whether I’m the favorite, it doesn’t really matter to me. I’m going to go in there and I’m going to fight another dude in the cage and whoever’s best is going to come out on top.”
When Max Holloway pointed to the ground and invited Justin Gaethje to throw down in the final seconds of their UFC 300 fight, and ultimately produced one of the most jaw-dropping finishes in history, UFC CEO Dana White made a difficult choice.
The viral moment would undoubtedly end up posted by thousands of users across social media despite the UFC’s desire to sell an $ 80 pay-per-view. Within minutes, the UFC decided to post the clip on all of its channels — including White’s own — along with multiple angles, fighter reactions, and even a slow-motion clip to keep the fervor going.
UFC welterweight Matt Brown believes that’s just one of many examples of how the company he’s called home for the past 16 years continues to evolve and embrace the future, unlike the sport of boxing, which he feels stays mired in the past.
“That was the first thing that popped into my mind — [UFC’s] social media,” Brown said about the Holloway clip on The Fighter vs. The Writer. “They’re using this Nina Drama girl, I’m not a fan at all, I don’t enjoy watching her stuff, but I 1000 percent get why they do it. It gets clicks and she’s good at what she does — no hate or anything, it’s just not my thing. But the UFC is totally embracing getting more clicks, getting more views, getting more social media, and boxing doesn’t do that shit at all. They’re still stuck in the 1990s.
“We could say that boxing is doing it because they’re doing influencer boxing. You know as well as I do, that’s not boxing. Influencer boxing is its own genre. It’s separate from real boxing. It’s not bringing fans to boxing. No one discovered Guillermo Rigondeaux because of f*cking Jake Paul. It doesn’t go that deep.”
Part of the problem surrounding boxing is that many of its biggest fights still do blockbuster numbers in ticket and pay-per-view sales, but those events are few and far between. The whole world will tune in to watch Tyson Fury vs. Oleksandr Usyk, but rarely does anyone know or care about the fighters competing on the undercard of the random televised event that might follow a week or so later featuring up-and-coming prospects.
Because those marquee cards still gain a ton of interest, Brown doesn’t see much effort on boxing’s part to fix what they would argue isn’t broken.
“UFC is doing a great job embracing that,” Brown said. “You love that or not, if you’re more a traditionalist — like I’m naturally more a traditionalist, and I don’t know if I’d say it’s a character flaw of mine or I’m just an old motherf*cker or whatever, but I’m always slow to embrace these kinds of new things and I think I’m in the same spectrum as these boxing guys. They’re just slow to embrace this shit.”
Brown knows there are boxers who transcend beyond the traditional promotional model, but he doesn’t see that philosophy adopted enough. Certainly not at the level of the UFC, which Brown feels makes a huge difference with fans looking to find fighters to support.
The 43-year-old veteran has felt it tremendously during his own career. He’s racked up the most knockouts in UFC welterweight history, but fans constantly still bring up an altercation he had on The Ultimate Fighter where one of his roommates played a prank by putting lemon juice in his chewing tobacco.
“Ryan Garcia, he was an influencer before he was famous as a boxer,” Brown said. “He had a huge, huge social media following, so he’s a great example of someone already embracing that. But also, just even the boxers themselves. The one thing that I think the UFC has done better than any sports organization in history is the way that they have promoted the personalities of the fighters.
“That’s a huge reason why people get so engaged with the UFC and they become attached to certain fighters. It’s because they magnify who you are as a person from The Ultimate Fighter, the behind the scenes stuff, and I feel like boxing and other sports, they try to do it a little bit but they have not accomplished it even remotely close to what the UFC has done. I’m not going to say that I know the way necessarily to do it, but somebody should take a deep dive into what the UFC’s doing and how they’re doing it.”
Brown knows there are undeniably huge stars throughout boxing, but the sheer amount of overall interest pales in comparison to UFC on a grand scale.
In a perfect world, Brown would love to see boxing embrace the UFC’s model more often to build stars, gain fan interest, and make the sport more accessible to the social media audience, but he’s not sure it will ever happen.
“People get invested in emotions more than anything else,” Brown said. “That’s why Sean Strickland got so famous. He says some shit that fires people the f*ck up. You either love him or you hate him, for the most part. That’s what works. He says shit that pisses some people off, shit that other people love. He’s just one example. There’s a million people like that. The interesting thing about the UFC is that it doesn’t matter what your personality is, they magnify it.
“Just a brilliant marketing strategy. We could talk all day about fighter pay and things like that, but can’t deny the f*cking brilliant business that Dana [White] and company have built. When it comes down to just pure business and numbers and marketing strategies, they’ve done as good as a job as you could ask from any business. The whole point is the UFC knows how to build a motherf*cking star.”
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When former middleweight champion Robert Whittaker got the call about fighting Khamzat Chimaev in Saudi Arabia in June, he was sitting at home having some family time. “Bobby Knuckles” quickly accepted the match.
“I was kind of doing my thing, sitting with the family and I got a message. I got a text message. ‘Hey, what do you think about fighting Chimaev, June 22, Saudi Arabia?’ My calendar was free, so I was like yeah. Why not,” Whittaker told ESPN Australia.
Chimaev is undefeated, but Whittaker believes that he brings a package of skill sets that Chimaev will not be ready for when the two clash at Kingdom Arena in Riyadh.
“I definitely think the goal, much like all of my other opponents, is just to go out there and fight my fight,” Whittaker said. “It’s about going out there and push my game plan onto him and see how he adjusts to me because I bring an arsenal of skill sets that he’s not ready for, I believe.”
“I’m going to go in there and I’m going to fight my fight. I’m going to fight a stand up fight. I’m going to see where it goes. I’m going to drag it out. It’s a five-round fight. I’ve been in plenty of those and I’ve got no quit in me, so let’s see how this goes.”
One area that Whittaker believes that he may have an edge in is conditioning. It is a five-round fight, and Chimaev has a been known to fade as the fight gets into the later rounds. Whittaker also has much more experience than “Borz.”
“I do think the fact that I have experience in 25-minute fights, the fact that I’ve been able to take fights, hard fights, the length of 25 minutes, it’s different. Anyone that has done it, who’s had a hard fight for the five rounds understands how different it really is and even the prep going into it,” Whittaker explained.
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“Now, whilst I think I have an advantage with experience and just tenure being able to do that, I expect him, especially because everyone is saying the same (thing). The story being said across the board is that ‘Khamzat falls off. Khamzat’s tired. Khamzat gases.’ We can only assume especially because it’s a five-round fight this fight, we can only assume that he’s doing everything in his power to come in efficiently pace himself and going to be good for the entire 25-minutes,” Whittaker continued. “I’m expecting a Khamzat that can go 25, but you would think, just on paper, that that’s an advantage on my side.”
Chimaev has been able to overwhelm some of his past opponents with his wrestling ability and submission prowess. Five of his 13 wins have come by submission. Whittaker recognizes that Chimaev is a dangerous grappler, but considers himself well-prepared if the fight goes to the ground.
“He’s definitely got a sound jiu-jitsu game, but he mixes it really well with his wrestling. I think what a lot of people aren’t ready for is the mixture of the two, making it really MMA-esque,” Whittaker said. “While I definitely think he’s dangerous there, I’ve been grappling my entire life. I am very, very confident in my own skill sets. Even if it were a pure wrestling-jiu-jitsu format, I would hold my own if not get a W in that way too.”
Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) Light Heavyweight standouts Vitor Petrino vs. Anthony Smith will go to war this weekend (Sat., May 4, 2024) inside Farmasi Arena in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, for UFC 301.
Smith, 35, is having a rough go as of late. The former Light Heavyweight title challenger has lost three of his last four, getting stopped twice in that span. His split decision win over Ryan Spann is doing a lot of the work in preventing a free fall down the rankings, but it’s really been a while since “Lionheart” looked particularly sharp. Petrino, conversely, is an undefeated (11-0) up-and-comer. The 26-year-old Brazilian has scored four straight wins and two stoppages to jumpstart his UFC career, earning him a big step up in competition here.
Let’s take a closer look at the betting odds and strategic keys for each athlete:
Petrino Vs. Smith Betting Odds
Vitor Petrino victory: -570
Vitor Petrino via TKO/KO/DQ: TBD
Vitor Petrino via submission: TBD
Vitor Petrino via decision: TBD
Anthony Smith victory: +355
Anthony Smith via TKO/KO/DQ: TBD
Anthony Smith via submission: TBD
Anthony Smith via decision: TBD
Draw: +5000
Odds via DraftKings Sportsbook
How Petrino Wins
“Icao” isn’t doing anything wildly complicated in the cage. If you take a really athletic prospect and teach him good fundamentals, however, that’s a strong recipe for success. Petrino has come up quickly thanks to a well-rounded game and good physical attributes, namely his conditioning and strength.
He’s stopped seven foes via knockout.
The great thing about fighting a veteran like Smith is that the path to victory has already been written out and defined by a bunch of other fighters. Indeed, Smith doesn’t deal well with calf kicks or take downs. Petrino has the tools to attack his calf and wrestle him to the floor. Isn’t it nice when everything lines up so simply?
Really, the risk to Petrino in this fight is volume. He’s not the most active striker, and Smith can put up numbers. Takedowns and calf kicks are typically a great answer to activity, but a couple well-placed counter shots could also remove some of the wind from Smith’s sails.
How Smith Wins
Smith is an absolute veteran of the game. He’s been fighting forever, relying on grit, high-volume Muay Thai, and an underrated submission game to keep him near the top of the heap.
I alluded to his path above, but this is not an impossible match up for Smith. He perhaps cannot match Petrino in pure pop in his punches, but Smith has a more varied stand up arsenal. He has the technical kickboxing to win this bout on the feet, particularly if he’s able to extend the fight into the second and third.
It really comes down to defending low kicks and stopping takedowns. Smith has to get a bit lighter on that lead leg and be ready to check. If and when he’s dragged to the floor, “Lionheart” also has to do a better job of using his guard to stand rather than simply hang on and mitigate damage.
If Smith can make this a grueling fight that rewards technique rather than athleticism, he has a chance at scoring the upset.
Petrino Vs. Smith Prediction
I’m feeling like a broken record, but for the third time in three fights, the huge favorite is justified.
Is Petrino relatively unproven at this level? Definitely. He’s got some okay wins, but this is the first time he’ll be locked in the cage with a ranked veteran. There’s always the chance that he implodes when unable to impose his will like usual. However, he’s faced some adversity in previous fights and handled it well enough, so there’s no reason to believe he crumbles here.
Furthermore, Smith just hasn’t been fighting that well. He’s 35 and has been doing this for decades. Slowing down is reasonable, and it doesn’t help his chances that everyone knows his weaknesses.
One man is going up, and the other is going down. Without a strong reason, it’s hard to go against the current trends.
Prediction: Vitor Petrino victory (-570)
Remember that MMAmania.com will deliver LIVE round-by-round, blow-by-blow coverage of the entire UFC 301 fight card right here, starting with the early ESPN+ “Prelims” matches online, which are scheduled to begin at 6 p.m. ET (simulcast on ESPN2 at 8 p.m. ET), before the pay-per-view (PPV) main card start time at 10 p.m. ET (also on ESPN+).
To check out the latest and greatest UFC 301: “Pantoja vs. Erceg” news and notes be sure to hit up our comprehensive event archive right here.
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