UFC 308: Ilia Topuria gets a chance to fill the void of UFC’s star problem in first title defense

When Ilia Topuria scored a stunning knockout over Alexander Volkanovski in February to capture the UFC featherweight title, there was a collective feeling across the global MMA landscape that the next great superstar had just been born.

Eight months later, that idea can come to full fruition on Saturday when Topuria (15-0) defends his title for the first time against former champion and reigning BMF king Max Holloway (26-7). The UFC 308 main eventHeld at the Etihad Arena in Abu Dhabi, it is considered one of the best and most anticipated fights the sport can produce.

There’s been a lot of criticism of UFC lately in the current era of the promotion’s groundbreaking deal with ESPN, which has been more about watering down matchmaking to ensure UFC meets the minimum number of dates promised in the broadcast contract and less about that , relying on revenue from the two to three biggest pay-per-view cards per year that previously kept the business afloat.

Today’s UFC, which sits opposite WWE in parent company Endeavor’s new combat sports conglomerate known as TKO Group Holdings, appears to be more focused on signing long-term deals with major cities to offer multiple events in its growing portfolio on the same weekend for big money. And that has led to less need for individual stars to emerge as long as the promotion’s brand power remains strong, which is why UFC can often sell out the majority of arenas in a city before the fight card has even been announced.

For everyone complaining about when the next Conor McGregor will walk through this door to become the one-of-a-kind lightning rod capable of bringing back the hordes of casual fans who flock over from the mainstream when the catnip craze organically feeds them Begins to overwhelm: Real UFC stars in 2024 from the perspective of the “face of the franchise” are actually White, rising business star Hunter Campbell and Endeavor CEO Ari Emanuel.

This is where Topuria comes into play.

Not only does “The Matador” appear to be the most capable successor to McGregor in the line of UFC crossover stars that includes the likes of Chuck Liddell, Brock Lesnar, Anderson Silva, Georges St-Pierre, Ronda Rousey and Jon Jones, but It’s clear that Topuria places much more value on the UFC’s modern business model than most of its elite fighters today.

As the UFC seeks to increase its global footprint only through the threat of major expansion into territories such as China, Mexico and Africa, Topuria is a true Renaissance man with roots in multiple nations and cultures. Topuria, who was born in Germany to Georgian refugee parents, is now one of the biggest sports and pop culture stars in his adopted home of Spain, which the UFC has coveted for years in hopes of taking over.

Topuria speaks four languages ​​fluently, has close ties to soccer star Real Madrid and regularly lures some of Europe’s biggest athletes into the cage for his fights. He also recently moved full-time to Madrid, where Topuria and his partner, entrepreneur and influencer Giorgina Uzcategui Badell, are raising their two young children.

It’s one thing when a new champion emerges in the UFC who either offers pound-for-pound ranking skills or has the prospect of becoming a bona fide PPV star as the most famous fighter on the roster. It’s a whole different thing when that fighter can be both at the same time.

Topuria has the full potential to become exactly that should he defeat Holloway, which would only strengthen his case for being the best fighter in the world while also giving UFC every reason to bring a major PPV card into a market as hot as Madrid or Barcelona, ​​which White told members of the media this week will be the plan for 2025.

“I represent the new generation of mixed martial arts,” Topuria said during the “UFC 308 Countdown” show. “I bring something that has never been done in the UFC. I’m a total fighter, so it doesn’t matter where the fight takes place. I know I’m going to beat you up.”

The first thing you notice when you look at Topuria and listen to him is that he doesn’t crave confidence. It’s the kind of self-belief that can easily be labeled as arrogant or disingenuous, especially when Topuria takes the bold step – as he did before the Volkanovski fight – of already updating his social media accounts to include in the biography to declare victory section before the battle has even taken place.

That’s ultimately the beauty of the real commercial potential that Topuria has, because he can play both sides at the same time, evoking love and loathing in equal measure from the fanbase.

If you think he’s nothing more than a big-talking villain (or heel in the pro wrestling sense), Topuria has no shortage of confident soundbites to back that up. But the more you listen to him, the more you realize how much of Topuria’s great confidence is actually the result of his constant mental preparation through visualization and manifestation, which suddenly becomes both endearing and inspiring after big victories, much like the promo that he came out in the cage after defeating Volkanovski.

“They’ll tell you you can’t do it,” Topuria told Joe Rogan during the post-fight interview at UFC 298 in Anaheim, California. “But you know what? The only person you need is yourself. Just trust yourself, work tirelessly, have faith and anything is possible.”

Topuria’s knockout of Volkanovski gave him further opportunities to expand his brand as the first Georgian and Spanish fighter to win a UFC championship. And that’s exactly what he did eight days after the fight, when, in front of 85,000 enthusiastic fans, he led the honorary kick-off for Real Madrid before a game against Sevilla at Madrid’s Santiago Bernabéu Stadium, where Topuria hopes to defend its next title in 2025 with a victory Saturday.

“I never said I wanted to be UFC world champion. I said I was going to be UFC world champion,” Topuria said at media day on Wednesday. “In my mind I believed this would happen. I was always world champion, it was a matter of time before that would manifest itself in reality.”

Given all this, it shouldn’t be surprising that Topuria is predicting an early knockout for Holloway, even if the living legend, who defeated lightweight Justin Gaethje with a single punch in the final seconds of their UFC 300 bout in April, has never done so has been knocked down, let alone killed by punches, in 33 professional fights. Making these claims is bold enough, but Topuria hasn’t stopped there.

During the build-up to UFC 308, Topuria has begun to lay the groundwork for plenty of big matchups on the horizon, be it against McGregor himself or a superfight against reigning and defending lightweight king Islam Makhachev, who also happens to be the one best P4P fighters in this sport.

“If the UFC calls on me to move up to the lightweight division, I’m OK with that,” Topuria said Wednesday. “I will rise and be the first to submit to Islam Makhachev.”

But when Topuria was asked about his overflowing confidence and constant vision of what challenge he would like to tackle next, he was quick to remind that he didn’t look past Holloway one bit. Then, without hesitation, he mentioned another seemingly unattainable achievement.

“They ask me what I want to achieve in the UFC and what my dream is. My answer was that I want to be a three-weight UFC world champion,” Topuria said. “What makes me so confident? The hard work I put in and knowing what I’m trying to do in the Octagon.”

“My attitude has always been that I want to be the best at everything I do.”

It’ll be fun to sit back and watch to see whether Topuria actually makes it or not. But it’s getting harder and harder to doubt him. Topuria has lethal power in both hands, the patience and IQ to plant the seed early before delivering the final blow at the first opportunity (much like he toppled Volkanovski), and an equally versatile ground game , to fight anything that is thrown at him in the cage.

Should he finish Holloway in a similar fashion to the former champion, who recorded three wins over the Hawaiian star, Topuria should also find himself in the Fighter of the Year discussion, despite light heavyweight king Alex Pereira’s three title defenses in just 176 days and in the race for the top spot on the P4P list.

“The goal is to be the first to knock [Holloway] out and that’s what’s going to happen,” Topuria said. “The world will see who is real and [who is] the best fighter in the world. Nobody has the power that I have in my hands, nobody has the skills that I have. The way I apply the technique and skills to my opponent, the way I move my head, the way I control the octagon – that’s the difference.

“I have always said that the true warrior does not hate what he has in front of him, but rather he loves what he has behind him. My family is my motivation for everything I do in this life.”