Ilia Topuria makes adjustments and defends title, KO’s Max Holloway in UFC 308 main event

Ilia Topuria remains on top at UFC 308

The Ultimate Fighting Championship returned to us today, October 26, 2024, for UFC 308, going down live from the Etihad Arena in Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates.

Headlining the event was a featherweight title bout between current Ilia Topuria (16-0) and no. 2 ranked former champion Max Holloway (26-8).

Topuria came into his first title defense today having gone a perfect 7-0 through seven promotional outings, having defeated the likes of Youssef Zalal (UD), Damon Jackson (KO), Ryan Hall (KO), Jai Herbert (KO), Bryce Mitchell (arm-triangle choke), Josh Emmett (UD), and Alexander Volkanovski (KO) when he captured the title earlier this year at UFC 298.

Holloway on the other hand came into this evening’s main event on a three-fight win streak, having gone 18-3 through 21 featherweight bouts since 2013 (only losing title fights to Volkanovski), most recently defeating Arnold Allen (UD), Chan Sung Jung (KO), and Justin Gaethje (KO) in his latest three appearances.

Continue reading to see how our UFC 308 featherweight championship main event went down:

Official Result: Ilia Topuria def. Max Holloway via KO (punches) at 1:34 of round three

Topuria pointed down at the center of the octagon once the bout began, just as he stated he’d do, though Holloway didn’t play into it. Topuria secured a nice takedown about 90 seconds in, though was unable to do anything with it and Holloway began to pick him apart with his slick striking as the opening round went on.

Topuria caught Holloway toward the end of the round, though it looked more like a slip than a knockdown, ending the round on Holloway’s back.

Topuria landed a few solid leg kicks in the first as well, and continued kicking the lead leg of Holloway in the second where he began to find his range to land a number of heavy punches, primarily his overhand right and left hook. Holloway also continued landing a lot on him as well, throwing much more volume than the champion.

Topuria hurt Holloway with a vicious overhand right in the third, unloading on him along the fence going to both the body and the head with nasty combinations before Holloway circled off it. He wasn’t out of danger however as Topuria followed him and landed a left hook that absolutely floored the former champion, following up with ground strikes for the knockout victory in the middle stretch.

ILIA TOPURIA PUTS HOLLOWAY’S LIGHTS OUT OMG#UFC308 pic.twitter.com/SHUkYN6hZY

— ᴅ (@DRaps04) October 26, 2024

Ilia Topuria remains atop of the 145 lb division following a truly spectacular performance this evening at UFC 308. He became the first man to officially drop Max Holloway, and just as he promised, he became the first man to ever stop him with strikes; all after making beautiful mid-fight adjustments too, Holloway didn’t make it easy for him.

Who would you like to see Ilia Topuria defend his title against next?

On the short list is no. 3 ranked Diego Lopes, who’s currently 26-6 as a professional and riding a five-fight win streak, and also no. 5 ranked Movsar Evloev (should he get past Aljamain Sterling at UFC 310), who’s a perfect 18-0 through his career to date with an eight-fight win streak inside the UFC’s featherweight division.

Six undefeated fighters entered the octagon today at UFC 308, and five left undefeated: Farid Basharat, Shara Magomedov, Lerone Murphy, Khamzat Chimaev, and of course, Ilia Topuria.

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I became a fan of combat sports when I was 12 years old. I was scrolling through the channels and landed upon Versus, where WEC was televised. Urijah Faber fought Jens Pulver for the second time that night. That’s the first fight I ever saw, and I was immediately hooked. So eventually, I began covering the sport in the fourth quarter of 2018, and have since started writing about animals as well. If you’d like to see those pieces, be sure to check out learnaboutnature.com!

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