‘Blessed’ to finally reclaim the featherweight title?

Max ‘Blessed’ Holloway will look to finally reclaim the featherweight championship when he faces current division king Ilia Topuria in the main event of UFC 308, set for the Etihad Arena in Abu Dhabi on the evening of Saturday 26 October 2024.

Holloway (26-7) has put together a three-fight win streak, most recently defeating Justin Geathje to claim the symbolic ‘BMF’ title in a brilliant match at UFC 300 back in April of this year.

The 32-year-old Hawaiian held the featherweight title (initially on an interim basis, then as unified champ) from December 2016 (when he defeated Anthony Pettis) until December 2019 (when he was beaten by Alexander Volkanovski). Holloway had two further cracks (in 2020 and 2022) at winning back the belt from Volkanovski, but twice ended up on the losing side against the Australian.

‘Blessed’ acknowledges the challenge awaiting him in this match, but is hungry to prove that “there’s levels to this” game.

“He’s good. He’s good, bro,” Holloway explained. “I’d be a liar if I said his boxing ain’t nothing. He’s got great combos. He’s got great power, knockout power in both his hands.

“But when I was his age, I had a title defence already. [But] there’s levels to this, and I can’t wait to go out there and remind people.”

Topuria (15-0) became the featherweight champion when he overcame Volkanovski with a second-round knockout in their title match at UFC 298 in February of this year.

The 27-year-old Georgian-Spaniard is confident of making a successful first defence of the championship, arguing that his rivals need a “motorcycle helmet” to survive his knockout power.

“I really wouldn’t want to be in someone else’s shoes, believe me. I’ve prepared very, very hard. I’m at that point where I think that right now in my weight class, a good motorcycle helmet is needed. Because if not, there is no solution,” said ‘El Matador’, who hopes to become the first man to knockout Holloway.

The rest of the main card features a potential middleweight thriller between Robert Whittaker and Khamzat Chimaev; a featherweight bout pitting Lerone Murphy against Dan Ige; Magomed Ankalaev takes on Aleksandar Rakic in the light heavyweight division; and another middleweight match pitting Sharabutdin Magomedov against Armen Petrosyan.

UFC 308 – MAIN CARD

- Main event: Featherweight championship: Ilia Topuria v Max Holloway

- Middleweight: Robert Whittaker v Khamzat Chimaev

- Featherweight: Lerone Murphy v Dan Ige

- Light heavyweight: Magomed Ankalaev v Aleksandar Rakic

- Middleweight: Sharabutdin Magomedov v Armen Petrosyan