One of the best fights of the year is just around the corner with UFC 308 on October 26 drawing closer by the minute.
In the main event in Abu Dhabi, featherweight champion Ilia Topuria puts his belt and undefeated record on the line against the former 145-pound king, Max Holloway.
UFC commentator Brendan Fitzgerald recently got both men together for an interview where they spoke about the upcoming clash between two of the sport's most exciting fighters.
It was quickly brought to attention that in the background of his video, Topuria had both the featherweight gold and a replica of Holloway's BMF title behind him.
"He bought it, he's a fan. He's been a fan for many years." Holloway responded once this was brought up to him.
Topuria's answer showed that he does have respect for "Blessed", just like he did for his last opponent, Alexander Volkanovski, who he defeated at UFC 298 to become the champion.
"Yeah, to be honest, I've been a fan for many years to be honest. Following you your entire career since I started to doing my first steps in MMA and yeah, you've been a great example for the new generation but now it's my time to be that example for the new generation.
"You will become an instant fan and you already know how it feels when you have to bounce back. You already have seven professional defeats, I have zero. So you gonna do it once again really well, I don't have any doubts about that. You are a great example of that and you have to stay like that."
Holloway, on the other hand, comes into another chance to reclaim his former belt following one of the most electric wins in recent years.
With UFC 300 as his stage, "Blessed" stopped Justin Gaethje in a great performance that was capped off with an instantly iconic knockout to win the BMF belt.
Fitzgerald asked Topuria what he thought about the fight only for Holloway to cut him off, referencing the video of his next opponent looking stunned when watching the fight live.
"He doesn't need to answer that, we saw already, we saw the video. Run the clip, everyone knows how he felt about the fight."
"El Matador" gave his response and claimed that he wasn't impressed by what he saw from the two fan favourites back in April.
"The only thing that was exciting about that fight was the last 10 seconds, to be honest. I didn't see any technique in that fight, I didn't see any strategy, I didn't see any f****** thing, I just saw a bar fight to be honest. It was very spectacular for the fans but for me, as a professional, it was not something very impressive."
This fight promises to be an incredible striking contest if that is where both men decide to try and win this fight with Holloway's creativity and output going up against the knockout power of the champion.
Topuria quickly cut off any discussion about Holloway's claim to be the best boxer in the UFC.
"Bro, that's a shame. Don't say that again, I recommend don't say that again."
In seven UFC fights, the Spanish-Georgian star has stopped four of his opponents but in Holloway, he meets an opponent that in 33-fights, he has been finished just once, a submission loss to Dustin Poirier in his fifth pro fight.
Though Topuria claims that this statistic is irrelevant because Holloway has never faced anyone like him before, the BMF titleholder is excited to put that to the test later this month.
"That's great reasoning. I'm not gonna fight with him, I'm not gonna argue with him. He has a great reason. He can believe what he believe, October 26, those Octagon doors close and we get to find out."
Watch the full interview below:
