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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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Ilia Topuria likely has a familiar foe awaiting him for his second title defense.

After becoming the first person to knock out Max Holloway in a stunning performance to cap off UFC 308 on Saturday, the reigning UFC featherweight champion came face-to-face with the man he beat to win the belt. Alexander Volkanovski made his way into the cage following Topuria’s win and the former opponents shared a few kind words for each other in anticipation of an expected rematch.

While UFC CEO Dana White typically doesn’t like to play matchmaker on the same night of an event, he says it’s almost certain that Volkanovski gets the chance to run it back with Topuria next.

“Listen, Volkanovski’s one of those guys, we’re not going to say no to Volkanovski,” White said at the UFC 308 post-fight press conference. “He’s been that guy for us. Any time we needed him. He was on this run like [Israel] Adesanya, like Alex [Pereira] is on right now, when things don’t go our way, and you’ve got to call a guy, Volkanovski’s always been that guy. He really was.

“I don’t think anybody’s in this room going ‘oh this is ridiculous or crazy’ and who wouldn’t want to see it again?”

Volkanovski hasn’t fought since he suffered a knockout loss to Topuria back in February in the fight that cost him the featherweight title. That actually served as his second consecutive knockout loss after Volkanovski fell to UFC lightweight champion Islam Makhachev in similar fashion after he accepted a short-notice fight with hopes of winning a second title.

Instead, Volkanovski ate a brutal head kick in the first round that ended his night. Four months later, Topuria dished out the same result. Afterwards, Volkanovski was told he could get a rematch when he was ready to compete again and it appears the UFC is following through on that promise.

There’s no timeline when the fight might happen, although Volkanovski was pushing to return at the upcoming UFC 312 card scheduled for Australia in February. Prior to his win on Saturday, Topuria shot down any hope that he would defend his title in enemy territory so it remains to be seen when or where the rematch against Volkanovski happens.

With a perfect 16-0 record that now includes wins over two of the greatest featherweights of all time in Volkanovski and Holloway, Topuria is already entering rarified area when it comes to his career. A second win over Volkanovski would separate Topuria even further from his peers at 145 pounds.

“We were just talking in the back. As you start to clip off legend after legend after legend, you eventually become a legend,” White said about Topuria. “Both guys looked great tonight. Max came in with the right game plan. I think the early calf kicks added up and took their toll later in the fight. Those things are so devastating when people throw them the right way. He couldn’t have fought a better fight.

“[Topuria] took some big shots himself. Has the chin, kept coming forward, incredible performance by both guys. But Topuria did something that nobody’s ever done before.”

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Khamzat Chimaev scored a major victory on Saturday night at UFC 308, submitting Robert Whittaker in the first round of their co-main event fight. Dricus Du Plessis, watching alongside fans worldwide, is eager for a chance to end Chimaev’s undefeated streak.

Following the fight, Chimaev clarified that he wants a title shot next. If the promotion decides to schedule a rematch between Du Plessis and Sean Strickland, he would likely need to wait for that to happen.

UFC CEO Dana White discussed potential matchups post-fight, leaving all options open. Meanwhile, Du Plessis took to social media to call his shot, expressing both respect for Whittaker and his desire to put the first loss on Chimaev’s record.

“Feel really sorry for Rob; he looked super ready, but this is the fight game. Well done on a good performance, Khamzat. That being said, I can’t wait to take your 0,” Du Plessis tweeted.

With this win, Chimaev made a strong statement and solidified his position as a top midweight title contender.

Continue Reading Dricus Du Plessis Warns Khamzat Chimaev After UFC 308 at MMA News.

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Max Holloway was the “BMF” champion. Ilia Topuria knocked him out. So Topuria is the BMF champion now, right?

Apparently it’s not that simple, as Topuria’s incredible knockout of Holloway in the UFC 308 main event only secured Topuria’s featherweight championship. Holloway won the BMF title with a fifth-round KO of Justin Gaethje this past April, but UFC CEO Dana White never stated that Holloway’s title was on the line Saturday. White later told reporters Holloway is still the BMF even after the loss.

None of that stopped Topuria from parading around with two titles after beating Holloway, which “Blessed” was asked about at the evening’s post-fight press conference.

“Could you imagine [lightweight champion] Islam [Makhachev] walking around with two belts after knocking out [featherweight champion Alexander Volkanovski]?” Holloway said. “Let that sink in. The belt was in a different weight class for a different reason. I think the fans make it happen, if the UFC really wanted to make it happen they would have put it up, but Dana said what he said, so he’s the boss man.”

Topuria was also asked why he was waltzing around with the BMF title in addition to his UFC title and he wondered why it wasn’t up for grabs in the first place.

“I never understand why they didn’t put the BMF belt on the line,” Topuria said. “It has to be on the line since the first day, but they don’t want to make it official, I’m going to make it official by myself.”

“It’s going to be a little bit weird for them to promote him as a BMF, but is what it is, no problem,” he added. “I’m going to keep it in my house. … Now, I’m the new baddest motherf*cker world champion.”

Prior to fighting Holloway, Topuria suggested he could challenge for titles in multiple divisions, targeting bouts with welterweight champion Belal Muhammad and lightweight champion Islam Makhachev.

Holloway was asked if he thought Topuria could get Islam next, but he still sees options at 145 pounds for Topuria.

“I don’t know,” Holloway said. “I saw Dana White talk about it, Dana White said that Ilia got a lot of contenders here, so we see what happens. Certain situations come up for certain fighters because of certain workload that they do, so at the end of the day if he gets it that’s cool, but probably not. He has Volk and Diego [Lopes] ramming down the door right now, so I think they might keep him down there.”

“It’s hard to go against Islam,” Holloway said when asked to evaluate the potential matchup. “His fighting style is a tough one. He likes wrestling, he likes striking now, he’s falling in love with his striking, so it’s hard to win against Islam.”

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MMA Fighting has a live stream watch party for Saturday’s UFC 308 event, which takes place at Etihad Arena in Abu Dhabi. In the highly anticipated main event, Ilia Topuria puts the UFC featherweight title on the line for the first time against challenger, and BMF champ Max Holloway.

Join MMA Fighting’s Mike Heck, Jed Meshew, and other special guests to watch along with UFC 308 as the main card happens.

In the co-main event, former middleweight champion Robert Whittaker battles the undefeated Khamzat Chimaev in a five-round bout.

UFC 308 also includes a battle between ranked featherweights Dan Ige and Lerone Murphy, while Magomed Ankalaev and Aleksandar Rakic compete in a potential No. 1 contender bout in the light heavyweight division.

The main card opens with a 185-pound matchup between Shara Magomedov and Armen Petrosyan.

Watch MMA Fighting’s UFC 308 Watch Party beginning at 1:45 p.m. ET / 10:45 a.m. PT.

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“Topuria is him!”
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