Ilia Topuria confirms Max Holloway's BMF title not at stake in UFC 308 headliner

Ilia Topuria has confirmed Max Holloway’s BMF title won’t be up for grabs in the UFC 308 main event, and he’s accepting of that.

Before the matchup between Topuria (15-0 MMA, 7-0 UFC) and Holloway (26-7 MMA, 22-7 UFC) was signed and official for the Oct. 26 headliner at Etihad Arena on Yas Island, Abu Dhabi, the reigning featherweight champion said he wanted the BMF strap, which “Blessed” won with an epic fifth-round finish of Justin Gaethje at UFC 300, to be at stake.

But then the negotiations happened, and Topuria said the conclusion was reached that his belt will be the only one wrapped around the winner on fight night.

“No, the BMF title is not going to be on the line,” Topuria told MMA Junkie on Wednesday. “To be honest, I don’t care. They took that decision and at the end of the day it’s like, when I’m going to beat him he can’t say he’s a BMF or however they want to call him. I’m just concentrating on my title defense and that’s it. I don’t care about anything else.”

Topuria refused to hypothesize exactly why the BMF belt was put to the side for this fight. He said it was a promotional decision, and once it was made he shifted his focus on the contest itself.

The confidence from Topuria since he won the featherweight title with a second-round knockout of Alexander Volkanovski at UFC 298 in February has been unmatched, and he said immediately post-fight that he would be the first to knock out Holloway in MMA competition.

Topuria isn’t backing down from that prediction, and in fact, he’s doubling down on it.

“No doubt about that,” Topuria said. “What makes me so excited about this fight is that no one could knock him out. There’s no way I’m not going to knock him out. I will be the first one to knock him out because every time I watch him fight I’m like, ‘I’m way better than him.’ If you put me with him in kickboxing or boxing, even in a chess match, I beat him. Whatever you want to do, boy, I can beat you.

“I respect Max Holloway. He’s been a great fighter. He gave us great fights. He seems to be a good person. I respect him. But I don’t know, I feel like I’m way better than him everywhere. It’s going to be a complete masterpiece. You will see. I will knock him out in the first round. There is no doubts about that. It’s going to be much easier than with Volkanovski, because I considered Volkanovski is way more difficult matchup for me, and he beat that guy three times.”

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