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MMA: Mixed Martial Arts

Though he had a strong performance against Ilia Topuria, Max Holloway’s efforts were not enough. He was knocked out for the first time in his professional career as Ilia Topuria retained the featherweight championship in the main event of UFC 308.

Holloway appeared to be performing well, getting into his groove late in the first round and trying to keep distance to land counterstrikes and combinations. But the former champ was caught in the third round, eating a flurry and being dropped by a right hand.

“It is what it is, I felt good,” Holloway said during his UFC 308 post-fight press conference. “Showing off my hands, I was landing, I was being fast, I think I had him surprised in there. Like I said, I was doing good until I wasn’t.

“Game of inches. He landed something that I found myself looking up from the ground.”

Max Holloway Mulling Over Potential Full-Time Move To Lightweight After UFC 308 Setback

Holloway originally became undisputed featherweight champion with a TKO of José Aldo at UFC 212. He retained the title against the Brazilian legend, Brian Ortega, and Frankie Edgar before losing to Alexander Volkanovski at UFC 245.

Since then, Holloway has rematched Volkanovski for the title twice, losing both times. UFC 308 marked the third time “Blessed” has unsuccessfully attempted to win back the 145-pound UFC gold. However, those are his only losses at the weight class since becoming the champion.

So what could be next for Holloway? He isn’t ruling out, and is even thinking hard about, a potential move up in weight class given the potential fights that could happen there. But the Hawaiian said he’s not looking to fight again until the middle of 2025, and so there is time to think things over in full.

“We’ll sit down with the team, relax, there’s nothing needed to be rushing back right now,” Holloway said. “[I’ll] probably try to come back summer, big July card in Vegas, do something, see what happens. [Lightweight] looks really good right now.

“I had a couple of times to reclaim [the featherweight title], new guys coming up, that would be fun, but I think ’55 looks more fun…”

Holloway earned the title shot against Topuria through his famed knockout of Justin Gaethje at UFC 300 earlier this year, which gave him the BMF belt.

“Blessed” fought at lightweight in the UFC just once prior to that, losing an interim title fight with Dustin Poirier at UFC 236.

• Read More: Ilia Topuria Declares Himself The New ‘BMF’ Champ After Max Holloway Win

Continue Reading Max Holloway Addresses His Future After Suffering First Knockout At UFC 308 at MMA News.

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MMA: Mixed Martial Arts

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MMA: Mixed Martial Arts

Robert Whittaker wants fans to know you haven’t seen the last of him.

The former UFC middleweight champion came out on the wrong end of a nasty submission Saturday at UFC 308 as he had his jaw crushed by undefeated contender Khamzat Chimaev. It was just the second time in Whittaker’s legendary career that he lost via tap-out and the first time since 2011, well before his UFC stardom.

Afterwards, Whittaker released a statement on the result via Instagram.

“It’s a tough gig sometimes but that’s the business,” Whittaker wrote. “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. I’m disappointed, but I come back better from every setback and every challenge so this is no different.”

Whittaker had been working to earn another shot at the UFC middleweight title and entered Saturday on a two-fight win streak with convincing performances against Ikram Aliskerov and Paulo Costa. Now, the 33-year-old finds himself going back to the drawing board and needing some serious rest time after the loss to Chimaev.

See Whittaker’s unedited comments below:

Thank you everyone for all the love and support. It’s a tough gig sometimes but that’s the business. 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. I’m disappointed, but I come back better from every setback and every challenge so this is no different. 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

In a separate interview with Red Corner MMA, Whittaker revealed that the submission from Chimaev actually exposed an issue he’s had with his teeth in the past. It turns out that was what really caused him to tap out so quickly rather than Chimaev potentially dislocating his jaw with the face crank.

“It wasn’t the jaw. It was the teeth,” Whittaker said. “The teeth got pushed in. I’ve kind of always had loose teeth and they got looser. It was the face crank. His forearm went straight on the bottom tooth. I didn’t even have a moment to turn the head or anything. It was on. It is what it is.

“I had them pushed in before when I fought Dricus [du Plessis] as well and they’ve never really recovered. It was from an injury when I was young.”

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Harsh Warning
| BJPenn.com

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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MMA: Mixed Martial Arts

Max Holloway might have fought his last fight at 145 pounds.

The former featherweight champion had a chance to regain that title Saturday in the UFC 308 main event, but he instead suffered the first knockout loss of his storied career as he was defeated in the third round by Ilia Topuria.

Only two featherweights have scored wins over Holloway in the past decade, Topuria and Alexander Volkanovski, and Volkanovski was unable to finish Holloway despite the two battling for 75 minutes across three title fights. “Blessed” gave his take on the surprising finish at the evening’s post-fight press conference.

“I felt great,” Holloway said. “I was finding my groove. Saw it on the scoreboards after, I was kind of surprised, I thought I had at least one of them. The first round I know he took me down and at the end he had that takedown so, it is what it is, I felt good. Showing off my hands, I was landing, I was being fast, I think I had him surprised in there. Like I said, I was doing good until I wasn’t.”

“The first couple of rounds he landed a couple of left hooks,” Holloway added. “He took me down, he didn’t feel too strong, and you know, game of inches. Game of inches. He landed something that I found myself looking up from the ground.”

One thing Holloway wouldn’t do is blame the loss on a cut down to featherweight after competing at 155 pounds in his most recent bout. Holloway fought at lightweight in his most recent fight at UFC 300 this past April, when he won the “BMF” title in highlight-reel fashion after capping off a dominant performance against Justin Gaethje with a last-second knockout.

Even with the 145-pound weight cut still being manageable, Holloway thinks a return to lightweight could make sense going forward.

“I had the best ‘45 cut here, but what else is there to do?” Holloway said. “I had a couple of times to reclaim [the featherweight title], new guys coming up, that would be fun, but I think ‘55 looks more fun as fighting just more the caliber, everyone there and the names there, it would look really exciting to put my name in the mix.”

Holloway didn’t say who he’d like to fight at lightweight (when a third fight with Dustin Poirier was suggested, Holloway joked that he’d like to get one back but hasn’t had much luck against opponents who have already beaten him twice), but there are plenty of fan-friendly matchups that make sense for the 32-year-old veteran.

Whatever weight Holloway shows up at next, he doesn’t expect to fight again until mid-2025.

“We’ll sit down with the team, relax, there’s nothing needed to be rushing back right now,” Holloway said. “Probably try to come back summer, big July card in Vegas, do something, see what happens. [The 155-pound division] looks really good right now.”

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