Ilia Topuria looks to defend title against Max Holloway – Field Level Media – Professional sports content solutions

UFC featherweight champion Ilia Topuria returns to the Octagon for the second time this year, joining former champion and current “BMF” champion Max Holloway in the main event of UFC 308 on Saturday in Abu Dhabi.

Topuria (15-0 MMA) has quickly burst onto the UFC scene, winning all seven fights since his promotional debut in 2020. In February, he won the belt against then-champion Alexander Volkanovski (26-4 MMA), becoming the first Georgian UFC champion. He is now joined by newly crowned UFC bantamweight champion Merab Dvalishvili (18-4 MMA), who also hails from the region.

“It will be exactly the same,” Topuria said. “I’ll put him out in the first round. I put (Volkanovski) lights out in the second round; but in this case it will be slightly different. I’ll make it in the first round.”

Holloway (26-7 MMA) captured the title after defeating former interim lightweight champion Justin Gaethje (25-5 MMA) with a fifth-round knockout at UFC 300 in April. It was his third straight win since losing to Volkanovski in July 2022 at UFC 276. It was the pair’s third fight in 31 months. Prior to his fights with Volkanovski, Holloway had held the featherweight title since June 2017 and successfully defended the belt four times.

Holloway, 32, said he was looking forward to potentially becoming the first man to defeat Topuria while regaining his belt. Holloway has been fighting for promotion since 2012, taking on some of the sport’s best, including Conor McGregor, Dustin Poirier and Anthony Pettis.

“I wouldn’t be here if I hadn’t (I think I could win), bro,” Holloway said. “We’ll find out on Saturday evening, my man. Tune in.”

The co-main event is a five-round non-title bout between former middleweight champion Robert Whittaker (27-7 MMA) and Khamzat Chimaev (13-0 MMA). Whittaker is coming off a first-round knockout win over Ikram Aliskerov (15-2 MMA) in June, part of a 3-1 stretch in his last four fights.

Meanwhile, Chimaev returns to the Octagon for the first time since last October, when he defeated former welterweight champion Kamaru Usman (20-4 MMA) by decision. Usman reportedly accepted the fight after Chimaev’s original opponent, Paulo Costa, withdrew due to elbow inflammation.

UFC 308 features 13 fights starting at 10 a.m. ET for the prelims on ESPN+ and ESPN News and continuing with the main card at 2 p.m. ET on ESPN+ pay-per-view.

Below is the main order of card battles:

–Ilia Topuria vs. Max Holloway, Featherweight – Topuria’s UFC featherweight title
–Robert Whittaker vs. Khamzat Chimaev, middleweight (five rounds)
–Magomed Ankalaev vs. Aleksandar Rakic, light heavyweight
–Lerone Murphy vs. Dan Ige, Featherweight
–Sharabutdin Magomedov vs. Armen Petrosyan, middleweight

–Field level media