Max Holloway envisions a rematch with Ilia Topuria in his future.
Holloway (26-8 MMA, 22-8 UFC), who is set to headline UFC 318 next week against Dustin Poirier, was knocked out for the first time in his career by Topuria (17-0 MMA, 9-0 UFC) late last year. The Spanish-Georgian star successfully defended his featherweight title in that bout before moving up to the lightweight division.
That result stood in sharp contrast to Holloway’s previous performance — a spectacular knockout victory over Justin Gaethje at UFC 300.
Now returning to the lightweight division to face Poirier in New Orleans, Holloway believes that a highlight-reel finish against "The Diamond" could put him in line for another shot — this time at the newly crowned 155-pound champion, Ilia Topuria, who recently stopped Charles Oliveira at UFC 317.
"You're only as good as your last fight," Holloway said this week while speaking to MMA Junkie. "UFC is about moments. You go out there and make a moment just like with (UFC) 300, you know what I mean? We had the chances of making moments and if I can go out there and get a moment, and get everybody excited about it, who's to say that I'm not fighting for a title come end of the year or early next year?"
Ilia Topuria captured the UFC featherweight title with a devastating knockout of Alexander Volkanovski in early 2024. His lone title defense came against Max Holloway before he vacated the belt to pursue success in the lightweight division.
Following Islam Makhachev’s decision to vacate the 155-pound title, Topuria was matched up with Charles Oliveira for the vacant championship. His knockout victory over “Do Bronx” capped off one of the most impressive three-fight title runs in UFC history.
With Holloway now fully committed to the lightweight division and ruling out any return to 145 pounds, he said he was thrilled to learn that “El Matador” would be making the move up alongside him.
"I was over the moon," Holloway said. "A lot of people thought I'd be like, 'What the hell? Why is he coming to '55?' I was over the moon when he announced he was coming to '55, and when I found out he was getting the title shot, I was like, 'Oh my God.' Even the title shot for both of them.
"When they announced Oliveira and Topuria with the title shot, brother, I think I was the happiest man alive. I have history with the two guys. They're figuring out my fight. I mean, we have this BMF title. I know ol' boy (Topuria) likes walking around with the BMF title, but if he wants the authentic one, he knows where to find me. First thing's first: There's Dustin Poirier, but there's a lot of history."
Despite his dominance at 145 pounds, many fans questioned whether the 5'7" Topuria could handle the much larger Charles Oliveira at UFC 317. However, once the opening bell rang, Topuria quickly silenced the doubters.
"That's just vintage Ilia, right?," Holloway said. "I think you go in there and you walk forward towards a guy like Ilia, that's what's going to happen. I think that was vintage Oliveira, too. Going in there and walking straight towards him. He was taking the shots early, but you can only take a certain amount of shots. At the end of the day, I thought it was a great performance from Ilia.
"I thought when Oliveira grabbed him, and Oliveira kind of had him, had him dry, and got him in a leg lock. I was like, Oh man, just go back to grabbing him again, but Oliveira had something else in mind. He took that one step forward, and Ilia makes you pay. He looked great. He looked smart. Ilia fought his fight. Ilia was poking at him saying, 'Yeah, keep walking forward.' He was daring him, and Oliveira took the bait and was on the sh*tty end of a punch."
