UFC 308: Holloway vs Topuria
Introduction
All aboard the Blessed Express…
Max “Blessed” Holloway is back in action at UFC 308 at the Etihad Arena in Abu Dhabi on October 26!
Holloway will be taking on Ilia Topuria for the UFC Featherweight Title. Once the reigning and defending champion at 145lbs, Max looks to regain the FW championship in style.
Coming off of his most recent fight and victory for the BMF title against Justin ”The Highlight” Gaethje (at 155lbs), Max seeks to be the first person to beat the currently undefeated “El Matador”.
Fans expect this one to be an action packed fight and potential FOTY (fight of the year) candidate. Each man holds a very impressive resume of past opponents and accomplishments. Check out a summary of each of their careers (as of August 2024) below, in preparation for their bout!
Career Summaries (as of July 2024)
Max “Blessed” Holloway (26-7)
Notable Opponent list
Dustin “The Diamond” Poirier (FEB 2012)
- Loss, submission (triangle arm bar)
“The Notorious” Conor McGregor (AUG 2013)
- Loss, unanimous Decision (UD)
Cub Swanson (APR 2015)
- Win, submission (guillotine)
Charles “Do Bronx” Olivera (AUG 2015)
- Win, KO/TKO via injury
Ricardo Lamas (JUN 2016)
- Win, unanimous Decision (UD)
Anthony “Showtime” Pettis (DEC 2016)
- Win, KO/TKO
Jose Aldo (JUN 2017)
- Win, KO/TKO
Jose Aldo II (DEC 2017)
- Win, KO/TKO
Brian “T-City” Ortega (DEC 2018)
- Win, KO/TKO via doctor’s stoppage
Dustin “The Diamond” Poirier II (APR 2019)
- Loss, unanimous decision (UD)
- Moved up a weight class (from 145lbs) to challenge for Interim Lightweight Championship (155lbs)
Frankie Edgar (JUL 2019)
- Win, unanimous decision (UD)
Alexander “The Great” Volkanovski (DEC 2019)
- Loss, unanimous decision (UD)
Alexander “The Great” Volkanovski II (JUL 2020)
- Loss, split decision (SD)
Calvin Kattar (JAN 2021)
- Win, unanimous decision (UD)
Yair “El Pantera” Rodriguez (NOV 2021)
- Win, unanimous decision (UD)
Alexander “The Great” Volkanovski III (JUL 2022)
- Loss, unanimous decision (UD)
Arnold Allen (APR 2023)
- Win, unanimous decision (UD)
Chan-Sung Jung (TKZ, “The Korean Zombie”) (AUG 2023)
- Win, KO/TKO
Justin “The Highlight” Gaethje (APR 2024)
- Win, KO/TKO
Accomplishments
You can see a full list of accomplishments on Max’s wikipedia page (Championships and accomplishments section). Some of the most notable ones are listed below (see note after list):
- UFC Featherweight Championship (1x, with 3x successful title defenses)
- First American to win the UFC Featherweight Championship
- Interim UFC Featherweight Championship (1x)
- 3rd most title fight wins in UFC Featherweight history (5)
- UFC 'BMF' Championship (1x)
- Fight of the Night (7x)
José Aldo, Brian Ortega, Dustin Poirier 2, Calvin Kattar, Yair Rodríguez, Jung Chan-sung and Justin Gaethje
- Tied 6th most Fight of the Night bonuses in UFC history (7)
- Performance of the Night (5x)
Akira Corassani, Cub Swanson, Anthony Pettis, Brian Ortega and Justin Gaethje
- Tied most Post-Fight bonuses in UFC Featherweight history (10, with Cub Swanson)
- Tied 8th most Post-Fight bonuses in UFC history (13, with Justin Gaethje, Edson Barboza)
- Tied 4th longest winning streak in UFC history (13, with Jon Jones, Demetrious Johnson, GSP, Khabib Nurmagomedov)
- Longest winning streak in the UFC Featherweight history (13)
- Most wins in UFC Featherweight history (20)
- Most knockouts in UFC Featherweight division history (9)
- Tied 4th most knockouts in UFC history (11 with Anderson Silva, Thiago Santos, Dustin Poirier, Anthony Johnson)
- Most finishes in UFC Featherweight division history (11)
- Tied most bouts in UFC Featherweight division history (26, with Darren Elkins)
- Most significant strikes landed in UFC history (3378)
- Most significant strikes landed in UFC Featherweight history (2892)
- Most total strikes landed in UFC history (3622)
- Most total strikes landed in UFC Featherweight history (3096)
- Most total fight time in UFC Featherweight history (6:47:23)
- 3rd most total fight time in UFC history (7:51:09)
- Tied 4th most wins in UFC history (22 with Charles Oliveira, Neil Magny, Demian Maia, Dustin Poirier)
- 2nd most decision wins in UFC Featherweight history (9)
- 3rd most knockdowns landed in UFC Featherweight history (10)
- Most significant strikes absorbed in UFC history (2223)
- Most bouts without being knocked down in UFC history (29)
- Most bouts with 100 or more significant strikes-per-fight in UFC history (16)
- Highest significant strike differential in a fight in UFC history (+312 vs. Calvin Kattar)
- Tied for the latest finish in UFC history (4:59 R5 KO vs. Justin Gaethje, with Demetrious Johnson & Yair Rodriguez)
- Most significant strikes landed in a fight in UFC history (+445 vs. Calvin Kattar)
- Second most significant strikes landed in a fight in UFC history (+290 vs. Brian Ortega)
- Third most significant strikes landed in a fight in UFC Featherweight history (+230 vs. Yair Rodriguez)
- Highest and 2nd highest striking differential in a fight in UFC history (312 vs. Calvin; 180 vs. Brian Ortega)
- Most significant strikes attempted in a fight in UFC history (+744 vs. Calvin Kattar)
- Most significant strikes attempted in a fight in UFC Lightweight history (+446 vs. Dustin Poirier 2)
- Most significant strikes attempted in a fight in UFC Featherweight division history (+744 vs. Calvin Kattar)
2022 UFC Forrest Griffin Community Award
2017 Fighter of the Year
NOTE: We took out a lot more, because it would have made Max’s list of accomplishments longer than the actual content of this article (see his wiki page for full list)
Highlight Moments
Max also has his fair share of memorable moments that will live on forever. We’ll give 3 that fight fans may recognize immediately.
Fight against Ricardo Lamas (2016)
With 10s left in a fight he was winning, Max pointed to the ground, signaling that he wanted to stand and “bang” for the remaining seconds of the fight. His opponent agreed and they started throwing haymakers at one another. Max got the better of this final exchange, landing a higher quality and quantity of punches, on his way to a unanimous decision victory.
Fight against Calvin Kattar (2021)
(1:37 mark in video) While looking at the commentary table, he shouted “I’m the best boxer in the UFC, baby” – dodging the punches his opponent was throwing punches at him, without directly looking at them. Max set multiple UFC striking records in this dominant performance.
Fight against Justin Gaethje at the historic UFC 300 event (2024)
For context, Max faced a lot of doubt from the mma community leading up to the fight, as they believed the odds were stacked heavily against him in this fight. Mainly:
- Max was moving up a weight class, going from 145lbs to 155lbs
- Max was facing a fighter known for his vicious power: Justin Gatheje. Gaethje‘s nickname of “The Highlight” is due to his kill-or-be-killed fight style, shown in all of his past fights
Fast forward to the fifth round of their BMF title fight, people believed Max was winning the fight on the scorecards, giving him at least 3 out of the past 4 rounds that had been fought (while quite a few gave him all four rounds).
With him being up on the scorecards, Max could have just coasted in the final round, played it safe, and not have taken any risks, which would have secured him a decision victory (even if he’d lost the final round)...
But Max is a warrior and a fan favorite for a reason. He decided to recreate (and one-up) his stand and bang moment with Ricardo Lamas... against one of the most dangerous UFC fighters of all time in Justin Gaethje...
Max finishes the fight with an emphatic KO, putting Gaethje out cold in the center of the octagon… with ONE SECOND LEFT. If you watched this live, you likely had the same reaction as the crowd, the commentary team (Joe Rogan, Jon Anik, and Daniel Cormier), and everyone watching at-home. As heard in the video, the arena exploded with astonishment and amazement, which only adds to what many people believe is the greatest knockout in UFC history (video on why Joe Rogan thinks it’s better than Edwards vs Usman II head kick KO linked at the end of the article).
At UFC 308, Max has a tall task in front of him. Here’s who he will be fighting...
Ilia “El Matador” Topuria (15-0)
Notable Opponent List
Damon Jackson (DEC 2020)
- Win, KO/TKO
Ryan Hall (JUL 2021)
- Win, KO/TKO
Jai Herbert (MAR 2022)
- Win, KO/TKO
Bryce Mitchell (DEC 2022)
- Win, submission (arm triangle)
Josh Emmet (JUN 2023)
- Win, unanimous decision (UD)
Alex Volkanovski (FEB 2024)
- Win, KO/TKO
Accomplishments
You can find a full list of accomplishments on Ilias’s wikipedia page (Championships and accomplishments section). Some of the most notable ones are listed below:
- UFC Featherweight Championship (1x)
- Performance of the Night (3x)
Jai Herbert, Bryce Mitchell, and Alexander Volkanovski
- Fight of the Night (1x)
Josh Emmett
Highlight Moments
The current UFC Featherweight Champion has some incredible finishes. The video below shows three of them:
Four Big Finishes from Topuria
In this video, Topuria knocks out Damon Jackson, showing his power to both the body and the head. He went on to knockout Ryan Hall (very dangerous Jiu Jitsu) and Jai Herbert, then submit Bryce Mitchell
Topuria vs Herbert (2022)
A very significant fight was when Topuria faced Jai Herbert (MAR 2022). The "Four Big Finishes" video above only shows the finishing sequence, but this video gives a more complete look at the fight. In round 1, Topuria faced a lot of adversity. He was kicked in the head and knocked down, as Herbert’s left kick landed shin on chin. Topuria showed his toughness and was able to recover enough to take the fight to the ground and recover for a bit. When they returned to the feet, Herbert continued getting the better of Topuria, landing heavier punches and a knee to the head that knocked Topuria’s mouthpiece out. Round 2 was a different story. Topuria recovered in between rounds and got more comfortable with his range against the taller, lengthier Herbert. He was able to weather the storm and threw a devastating four punch combo, which resulted in a huge knockout. In addition, he did this in “enemy” territory. Fighting in London, England, his opponent was the crowd favorite for two reasons. First, he was from the area as he is an English mixed martial artist. Secondly, Topura had multiple interactions with Paddy Pimblett, someone who was a fan favorite in the country at the time, so the crowd held animosity toward him for this. Topuria showed great composure and was able to get the job done, despite everything he went up against.
Alex Volkanovski (2024)
Putting himself into title contention after high-profile finishes, Topuria earned his shot against Alexander Volkanovski. Coming off of two losses at the weight class above (155lbs) against defending champion Islam Makhachev, “The Great” returned to the featherweight weight class of 145lbs to defend his title against “El Matador”. With everyone unsure to the extent that Volk had recovered from his previous fight in October 2023 (where he lost via head kick KO to Makhachev), the Australian was intent on defending his title against the surging Spanish-Georgian contender just 3-4 months later. In Topuria’s signature style, he gathered his range and threw a heavy handed punch combination that found its mark, knocking the champion out cold and ending his 4 year title reign. Now he will face another very big test, when he fights Max Holloway.
Location: Yas Island, Abu Dhabi
The UFC returns to Yas Island, in Abu Dhabi UAE (United Arab Emirates) for UFC 308. If you haven't seen what Yas Island looks like and what it has to offer, you may want to take a closer look. From postcard worthy beaches, to an awesome go-kart track, and much more, every UFC fan has likely imagined what it would be like to visit this paradise in person, while watching the events that the UAE has held
Etihad Arena
The entertainment venue o the island has played host to some of the most highly anticipated fights and events for the UFC in the past. Let's take a stroll down memory lane and take a look at the events held at this arena, by year!
2020 (du Forum)
UFC 251: Usman vs. Masvidal (Jul 12, 2020)
UFC on ESPN: Kattar vs. Ige (Jul 16, 2020)
UFC Fight Night: Figueiredo vs. Benavidez 2 (Jul 19, 2020)
UFC on ESPN: Whittaker vs. Till (Jul 26, 2020)
UFC 253: Adesanya vs. Costa (Sep 27, 2020)
UFC on ESPN: Holm vs. Aldana (Oct 4, 2020)
UFC Fight Night: Moraes vs. Sandhagen (Oct 11, 2020)
UFC Fight Night: Ortega vs. The Korean Zombie (Oct 18, 2020)
UFC 254: Khabib vs. Gaethje (Oct 24, 2020)
2021 (Etihad Arena, from this point forward)
UFC on ABC: Holloway vs. Kattar (Jan 16, 2021)
UFC on ESPN: Chiesa vs. Magny (Jan 20, 2021)
UFC 257: Poirier vs. McGregor 2 (Jan 24, 2021)
UFC 267: Błachowicz vs. Teixeira (Oct 30, 2021)
2022
UFC 280: Oliveira vs. Makhachev (Oct 22, 2022)
2023
UFC 294: Makhachev vs. Volkanovski 2 (Oct 21, 2023)
2024
UFC on ABC: Sandhagen vs. Nurmagomedov (Aug 3, 2024)
UPCOMING -->
UFC 308: Topuria vs Holloway (Oct 26, 2024)
Stacked Card
Other fights include:
Robert Whittaker vs Khamzat Chimaev (Middleweight)
After their first fight was called off, this HUGE bout at 185lbs will take place in the co-main event of UFC 308. The winner of this fight between "The Reaper" vs "Borz" could have future title contention implications keep an eye on this one!
Ciryl Gane vs Alexander Volkov II (Heavyweight)
Magomed Ankalaev vs Aleksandar Rakić (Light Heavyweight)
TEAM SANABUL
Make sure to catch Team Sanabul athlete Max Holloway in action, as he looks to reclaim the UFC Featherweight Championship at UFC 308!
Max exemplifies the Sanabul brand motto of “Fight For It.” He has done so from a young age, being forged by the difficult environment he was in. This video does a great job showing why Max is such an inspiration and a great example for everyone, so we highly recommend that you watch it.
Other Links
Max Holloway knocks out Justin Gaethje at UFC 300
Rogan says Holloway’s KO of Gaethje was the greatest knockout of all time
Thank you for reading - we hope this was a helpful summary of the UFC 308 main event and the warriors who will be in action!
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