Tag: Ilia Topuria

After UFC 308, Tim Welch still believes Sean O’Malley would give Ilia Topuria problems

Tim Welch’s opinion on Sean O’Malley being a tough stylistic matchup for Ilia Topuria hasn’t changed after UFC 308.

[autotag]Tim Welch[/autotag]’s opinion of [autotag]Sean O’Malley[/autotag] being a tough stylistic matchup for featherweight champion [autotag]Ilia Topuria[/autotag] hasn’t changed after UFC 308.

Topuria (16-0 MMA, 8-0 UFC) capped off a banner 2024 by knocking out another divisional great in Max Holloway this past Saturday in Abu Dhabi. Prior to UFC 308, Welch said he sees “flat-footed” Topuria as a more favorable matchup for O’Malley than Holloway. O’Malley (18-2 MMA, 10-2 UFC) has since lost his bantamweight title to Merab Dvalishvili at UFC 306, but Welch still thinks a fight with Topuria could happen someday.

“I don’t think it’s past,” Welch told Submission Radio. “I mean, you never know what’s going to happen in the UFC. It’s not impossible that Volkanovski goes out there and beats Ilia Topuria. I mean, that’s possible. So, you never know, and I do think stylistically, Sean could give Ilia problems. He really could, but Ilia Topuria is a very, very scary fight.

“That’s not a fight you go in there and be like, ‘Oh yeah, man, we’re going to go out,’ – it’s like, you make one mistake with Ilia Topuria, and you’re going to be lights out, looking up at the ceiling or whatever. But that’s a scary, scary fight. But I do believe that Sean, with his range and with his speed and with just his overall skill set, he could give Ilia problems. I do believe that.”

After losing his title to Dvalishvili, O’Malley underwent surgery for a torn labrum in his left hip – an injury he came into the fight with. Dvalishvili appears willing to grant O’Malley an immediate rematch, and if the pair do run things back, Welch is confident that “The Suga Show” would get the finish.

“A healthy Sean, I do believe we go out there and end up KO’ing Merab in between some sort of scramble or something,” Welch said. “On the in-betweens, I think Sean will be able to catch his chin and put him down.”

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Alexander Volkanovski: Ilia Topuria wouldn’t submit Islam Makhachev, but he can knock him out

Alexander Volkanovski thinks UFC champ Ilia Topuria has the power to put anyone away – at featherweight and lightweight.

[autotag]Alexander Volkanovski[/autotag] thinks UFC champion [autotag]Ilia Topuria[/autotag] has the power to put anyone away – at featherweight and lightweight.

Topuria (16-0 MMA, 8-0 UFC) is coming off back-to-back knockouts of Volkanovski and most recently Max Holloway in Saturday’s UFC 308 main event in Abu Dhabi. Topuria wants a shot at lightweight champion [autotag]Islam Makhachev[/autotag] and is confident he can submit him.

Volkanovski isn’t sure about the submitting him part but definitely won’t rule out Topuria’s chance of catching Makhachev (25-1 MMA, 14-1 UFC) on the feet.

“Submission, I don’t see that happening,” Volkanovski said on “The Ariel Helwani Show.” “Can he knock Islam out? Of course. He can knock anyone out in them two divisions (featherweight and lightweight). I’ve always said, and it’s going to be the same for Islam, the only way I see these guys like myself losing is getting caught. Who can catch these? It’s guys like Ilia that can do that.

“He could go out there and land, but going out there and beating Islam or even submitting him and controlling him, I think that is very, very unlikely. But definitely could catch him. Ilia can catch anyone in them two divisions, so you can never count out Ilia in them fights, but they are going to be tough fights. If he can’t knock them out, they’re tough fights for him. Very tough fights.”

Volkanovski (26-4 MMA, 13-3 UFC) has been taking time off ever since losing his featherweight title to Topuria at UFC 298 in February. He appears to have gotten UFC CEO Dana White’s approval on an immediate rematch, but Topuria and his team are not keen on fighting at UFC 312 Feb. 8 in Sydney.

Both Volkanovski and Diego Lopes have openly said they would fight each other on that date for the interim title if Topuria opts against a relatively quick turnaround.

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Aljamain Sterling: I have ‘a great style’ to neutralize UFC champ Ilia Topuria’s offense

Nobody has figured out an answer for UFC champion Ilia Topuria, but Aljamain Sterling believes he’s got one.

Nobody has figured out an answer for UFC featherweight champion [autotag]Ilia Topuria[/autotag], but [autotag]Aljamain Sterling[/autotag] believes he’s got one.

Topuria (16-0 MMA, 8-0 UFC) retained his title in Saturday’s UFC 308 main event by becoming the first man to knock out Max Holloway (26-8 MMA, 22-8 UFC). Former bantamweight champion Sterling (24-4 MMA, 16-4 UFC) will look to emerge as No. 1 contender if he can bounce Movsar Evloev (18-0 MMA, 8-0 UFC) from the ranks of the unbeaten at UFC 310 on Dec. 7.

Topuria’s power is a proven problem at 145 pounds, but “The Funkmaster” says he wouldn’t even bother standing with him.

“If I were to fight him, God willing I beat Movsar and I do get the crack, I do think I have a great style to neutralize his offense,” Sterling said on his YouTube channel. “Bro, most of these guys are striking with him. I ain’t doing that. We’re sitting here looking for our takedown, and we’re going to have to make it a grappling match.

“I’m trying to get the W. I’m not trying to get my head and my brain sent to the next dimension again. I’m good on that. But I think it’s cool that people were even mentioning that. I think that would be a crazy match for multiple reasons. … But I’ve got one other tough opponent in front of me, and then we’ll kind of go from there.”

Sterling has a few other fighters to contend with for a title shot. Diego Lopes weighed in as a backup for Topuria vs. Holloway at UFC 308, and former champion Alexander Volkanovski got Dana White’s approval for a rematch with Topuria next.

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Midway through UFC 308 main event, Dana White lamented no BMF status for Topuria-Holloway

Once the fight was proving to be a true banger, Dana White wished the BMF title would have been on the line, too, at UFC 308.

ABU DHABI – When the idea first was proposed that [autotag]Max Holloway[/autotag] could challenge for [autotag]Ilia Topuria[/autotag]’s featherweight title, Topuria had what seemed to be a natural question.

Would Holloway’s new BMF belt be on the line, too? It stood to reason, Topuria argued, that it should.

The MMA world now knows that it wasn’t part of the deal this past Saturday at Etihad Arena in Abu Dhabi, where Topuria (16-0 MMA, 8-0 UFC), the UFC’s first champion from Spain, defended the featherweight belt with a stunner of a knockout in the third round. Former longtime champ Holloway (26-8 MMA, 22-8 UFC) this never had been knocked out.

Making things slightly more dramatic was the fact Topuria said he’d be the first to do it to Holloway, then backed it up – not necessarily against all odds, but certainly against many of them.

The competitive nature if the fight before Holloway had his lights turned out made it seem, in retrospect, that it could’ve been a BMF title fight like the one Holloway was in when he finished Justin Gaethje with one second left. That bit of instant legend is what got Holloway the title shot.

Even UFC CEO [autotag]Dana White[/autotag], after the fact, said it might have been good to have both belts contested.

“Topuria’s belt was on the line; Max was trying to take that,” White said after UFC 308 in explanation of why the promotion didn’t bring the BMF strap into the picture. “Halfway through the second round, I said, ‘Sh*t, we should have put the Bad Motherf*cker title up for this fight, too, because these guys are both (a BMF).'”

Holloway said after his loss that he’s likely to move to lightweight. That wouldn’t affect the BMF belt, though. It just may be a while before Holloway gets back on the horse, and when he does, it remains to be seen if it will be in the type of fight that would warrant the symbolic belt being up for grabs.

White was just as unsure what will happen with it.

“I don’t know what we’ll do with it yet, but Max still has it. Max holds the title, so we’ll see what happens,” he said.

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USA TODAY Sports/MMA Junkie rankings, Oct. 29: Ilia Topuria’s UFC 308 KO leads to P4P shuffle

Check out the latest USA TODAY Sports/MMA Junkie rankings following UFC 308 in Abu Dhabi.

[autotag]Ilia Topuria[/autotag]’s seismic knockout of Max Holloway in the UFC 308 main event this past Saturday will have plenty of aftershock ripples. One of them comes in the form of the pound-for-pound rankings.

Topuria (16-0 MMA, 8-0 UFC), the UFC’s first champion from Spain, defended his featherweight title with a third-round finish of ex-champ Holloway (26-8 MMA, 22-8 UFC) at Etihad Arena in Abu Dhabi. Holloway never had been knocked out in his lengthy career and was coming off the monumental “BMF” title moment against Justin Gaethje.

It makes sense that Topuria takes a short climb up the ladder of the pound-for-pound rankings, and in this case, he will jump from No. 6 past Jon Jones and Francis Ngannou into third. Take a look at the fallout from that, as well as movement in other divisions after key UFC 308 results, as well, in the USA TODAY Sports/MMA Junkie rankings.

Javier Mendez doesn’t think Ilia Topuria can hang with Islam Makhachev on the ground

Javier Mendez doesn’t think it would be wise for Ilia Topuria to go to the mat with Islam Makhachev in a fight.

[autotag]Javier Mendez[/autotag] sees [autotag]Ilia Topuria[/autotag] having a tough time with [autotag]Islam Makhachev[/autotag] on the ground.

After becoming the first fighter to knock out Max Holloway at UFC 308, featherweight champion Topuria (16-0 MMA, 8-0 UFC) continued to express interest in a fight with lightweight champion Makhachev.

Topuria is confident that he can submit Makhachev (25-1 MMA, 14-1 UFC), but American Kickboxing Academy head coach Mendez thinks it wouldn’t be wise for Topuria to tangle with Makhachev on the ground.

“That would be an area I’d be foolish to want to try to go up against, boxing for boxing,” Mendez told Submission Radio. “That’s not a smart move, you know? And it just would be like, if Ilia decided to go submission for submission with Islam, that’s not a smart move on his part either. So it’s all strategy and how you approach it, how your fighter approaches it and, what mistakes you can correct while the fight is going on.

“That’s what I think is more important than anything. When the fight does get matched, it’s just your game plan, your strategy, executing it. Whether he can hang with Islam or not on the ground, I would have to say no. Based on what I see with everybody and Islam. The only person that really did the most with him was Khabib, and at the end of the day, the longer you grapple with Islam, the worse it’s going to get.”

Mendez dubbed Topuria as the best boxer in all of MMA, and even though Makhachev has proven he can stand with the best, he wouldn’t advise him to do so against Topuria.

“I mean, when he took Max down with ease in the first round, I said, ‘That’s the way you fight MMA,’ and he has a very strong stand-up game,” Mendez said of Topuria. “I would think that he’s probably the best boxer in the whole entire division. He’s really crisp and very on point with his boxing, and therefore you see how he uses it really, really well. He’s a complete fighter, but his boxing, I think, is his best attribute out of everything he does. He’s impressive, very impressive.”

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Dana White, UFC ramp up push for Spain in 2025 after Ilia Topuria’s KO of Max Holloway

If the idea of the UFC holding an event in Spain was a tease before, it sounds like a slam dunk now.

ABU DHABI – If the idea of the UFC holding an event in Spain was a tease before, it sounds like a slam dunk now.

After [autotag]Ilia Topuria[/autotag] (16-0 MMA, 8-0 UFC), the UFC’s first champion from Spain, defended his featherweight title with a stunning third-round knockout of ex-champ Max Holloway (26-8 MMA, 22-8 UFC) this past Saturday at UFC 308, it may have sealed the deal on a future UFC trip to Spain for the first time.

“I want to go to Spain as bad as Spain wants us to come, so we’re working on it. We’ll get it done there,” UFC CEO [autotag]Dana White[/autotag] said at Etihad Arena after UFC 308. “There’s never been a time where we said we’re going to do something and we don’t do it. We figure it out, and we’ll get it done.

“It’s important for me to go to Spain in ’25, so we’ll figure it out.”

Topuria is the reason that UFC visit to Spain has taken on increased importance. He became the first fighter to knock out Holloway, the reigning “BMF” titleholder – and predicted he’d be the first to do it, too.

Among those on hand to support the rising star was all-time Spanish soccer legend Sergio Ramos, lending credence to Topuria’s global star potential.

Topuria has yet to lose in MMA. In the buildup to UFC 308, he was portrayed as someone who might be just as comfortable at the Met Gala as he would be in an MMA gym, and White said when the UFC has superstars, the needle moves differently – especially when it comes to breaking into new markets.

“This business is star driven, so when we have a South African (champion like Dricus Du Plessis), we want to get to Africa,” White said. “When we have somebody from Spain, we want to get into Spain. Georgia, yes – the answer is yes. We haven’t looked into that yet or what it would take to pull off an event near there. We’re still trying to figure out Spain with the arena situation. But when you look at the performance that Topuria had tonight, we need to get to Spain and figure it out.”

White said arena availability has been an issue in the country – but that if there was no other option, he’d be forced to get past his dislike of outdoor stadium shows.

“If we have to, we will. I’d prefer not to. All the arenas were booked up. We’re trying to figure it out. But if I have to go to a stadium (for Topuria in Spain), we will,” White said.

For more on the card, visit MMA Junkie’s event hub for UFC 308.

Ilia Topuria def. Max Holloway via knockout (punches) – Round 3, 1:34

Sean O’Malley dubs Ilia Topuria ‘a little f*cking Alex Pereira’ after knockout of Max Holloway at UFC 308

Sean O’Malley was in awe of Ilia Topuria’s power at UFC 308.

[autotag]Sean O’Malley[/autotag] was in awe of [autotag]Ilia Topuria[/autotag]’s power at UFC 308.

Featherweight champion Topuria (16-0 MMA, 8-0 UFC) became the first fighter to knock out Max Holloway (26-8 MMA, 22-8 UFC) in Saturday’s main event in Abu Dhabi. During a watch-along on his YouTube channel, O’Malley (18-2 MMA, 10-2 UFC) gave a live reaction to Topuria’s devastating knockout.

“God, Ilia’s a f*cking finisher though, huh? He’ll jump on you,” O’Malley said. “I think Ilia might have took that Round (1) just because he took his back at the end, but that was a super close round. … Ilia’s so dangerous until the last bell.”

O’Malley scored Round 2 for Holloway, but after Topuria tagged him with a left hook to finish the fight in Round 3, he couldn’t help but praise “El Matador,” whom he was previously angling to fight. O’Malley compared Topuria’s finishing abilities to UFC light heavyweight champion [autotag]Alex Pereira[/autotag], who has knocked out his past four opponents in a row.

“Ilia just hurt Max bad,” O’Malley reacted. “Ilia lands a bomb, and Max is still stunned. He’s playing it off good. Oh, left hook! Ilia finishes Max Holloway with a left hook in Round 3. Holy sh*t, Ilia is that guy. Wow.

“Who, at 145, wants to fight Ilia right now? Ilia’s just so dangerous the whole fight. He’s a like a little f*cking Alex Pereira. You can’t tell me Islam (Makhachev) vs. f*cking Ilia isn’t a fight you would want to see.”

O’Malley lost his bantamweight title to Merab Dvalishvili at UFC 306 in September. He underwent hip surgery after the fight and is targeting a return in the first half of 2025.

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Paddy Pimblett reacts to Ilia Topuria’s UFC 308 knockout of Max Holloway: ‘I still think I beat him’

Paddy Pimblett still has his sights set on featherweight champion Ilia Topuria after UFC 308.

[autotag]Paddy Pimblett[/autotag] still has his sights set on UFC featherweight champion [autotag]Ilia Topuria[/autotag].

Pimblett (22-3 MMA, 6-0 UFC) and Topuria (16-0 MMA, 8-0 UFC) have been beefing for a while, including an altercation in London in March 2022, as well as a confrontation during the UFC 282 press conference.

Both have since found success, but Topuria’s career has reached another level. “El Matador” retained his featherweight title when he became the first man to knock out Max Holloway (26-8 MMA, 22-8 UFC) in Saturday’s UFC 308 main event in Abu Dhabi. Pimblett admits he didn’t think Topuria could take out Holloway in that fashion, but he remains confident that he would beat him if they ever crossed paths.

“Heavy, hand sanitizer boy with the win,” Pimblett said on his YouTube channel. “Heavy. Well done, Ilia. Give you your due, lad, 16-0 hand sanitizer boy. I can’t wait for him to come back up to lightweight. I still think I’d beat him, I really do. I still think I beat him, lad.

“Whether he just beat Max Holloway or not, I still think I’d beat him by kicking him on the feet or taking him down and submitting him, but I genuinely think I’d beat him. Congrats, Ilia Topuria. Well done, son. Congratulations, lad.”

Former champion Alexander Volkanovski will likely get his rematch with Topuria next, but if not, Pimblett welcomes Topuria at lightweight. “The Baddy” is coming off his biggest win to date, a first-round submission of King Green at UFC 304 this past July.

“Obviously hand sanitizer boy knocked Holloway out,” Pimblett said. “Didn’t see that coming, but give him his due, good finish. Max was the better boxer, but Ilia’s the better swinger, isn’t he? He ended up catching him with them big shots on the button, so congrats, fella. Can’t wait for Volk to come back and beat you up and if he doesn’t, I’m willing to anytime.”

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Overreaction Time: Ilia Topuria era upon us, Khamzat Chimaev the boogeyman, Dana White goes too far, more!

Check out the latest episode of “Overreaction Time” as host Simon Samano and Nolan King cover the fallout from UFC 308 and much more.

The time for overreacting is here!

Check out the latest episode of “Overreaction Time” at noon ET/9 a.m. PT as host Simon Samano and MMA Junkie reporter Nolan King debate these “overreactions” on the following topics in mixed martial arts:

  • [autotag]Ilia Topuria[/autotag] will STILL be UFC featherweight champion at the end of 2025.
  • [autotag]Khamzat Chimaev[/autotag] is unstoppable and therefore his UFC title reign is inevitable.
  • Forget about [autotag]Max Holloway[/autotag] and [autotag]Robert Whittaker[/autotag] ever reclaiming UFC titles.
  • [autotag]Dana White[/autotag] is COMPLETELY out of bounds and full of sh*t when it comes to [autotag]Francis Ngannou[/autotag].
  • The antitrust settlement approval feels like a bigger win for the UFC than the fighters.
  • Monday’s headline will read: ‘[autotag]Brandon Moreno[/autotag], [autotag]Rose Namajunas[/autotag] primed for UFC title shots’

Watch the full episode in the video above.