UFC featherweight champion Ilia Topuria wants to fight Max Holloway sooner rather than later.
‘El Matador’ has been out of action since his shot at featherweight gold in the main event of UFC 298 in February. There, the rising Ilia Topuria met longtime champion Alexander Volkanovski. ‘The Great’ entered the bout fresh off his knockout loss to Islam Makhachev a few months prior, and it showed. It took just two rounds for Topuria to hand the Australian a stoppage loss.
Just a few months removed from that victory, Ilia Topuria’s next opponent is far from a secret. Following his knockout win over Justin Gaethje at UFC 300, Max Holloway was tabbed as the next title challenger. ‘Blessed’ previously notched wins over Arnold Allen and The Korean Zombie down at 145 pounds before facing ‘The Highlight’ as well.
For a few weeks, Ilia Topuria was admittedly lukewarm on the idea of facing Max Holloway. However, in a recent interview with Sportskeeda MMA, the featherweight champion has changed his tune. In the interview, Topuria stated that he wanted to fight as soon as possible. The reason is, that he wants to be ready for a potential UFC Spain card.
Ilia Topuria reveals Max Holloway title defense is targeted for UFC 306 in September
Furthermore, Ilia Topuria revealed that his return is tentatively set for UFC 306 in September. That card will go down at the new Las Vegas Sphere venue and will be held on Mexican Independence Day. However, Topuria added that his title defense against Max Holloway is far from official as of now.
“My target is to come back in September.” Ilia Topuria stated to Sportskeeda in a recent interview, discussing his UFC return against Max Holloway. “So, right now we are in the conversations [for that to happen]. So we’ll see. If Max Holloway is able to fight in September, we have a fight. If not, I don’t know.”
He continued, “Maybe we’d go to the end of the year or something like that because I want to fight as soon as possible. Next year, I want to fight in Spain. So, I want to be ready for that date.”
What do you make of these comments from the UFC featherweight champion? Are you excited to see Ilia Topuria fight Max Holloway later this year?
