Champion Ilia Topuria (right) battles Max Holloway during a mixed martial arts featherweight title bout at UFC Fight Night in Abu Dhabi
Featherweight champion Ilia Topuria vowed to become the first man to knock out Max Holloway.
He made good on his promise at UFC 308 in Abu Dhabi last weekend.
Using a huge right hand to daze Holloway, Topuria (16-0) followed up moments later with a powerful left hook that dropped the 32-year-old. Topuria pounced on Holloway immediately for a ground-and-pound finish before referee Mark Goddard stopped the bout at the 1:34 mark of the third round.
“To beat a legend like Max Holloway, I don’t know what to say,” Topuria said. “He’s been a great example for the generation. … I hope I’m gonna be a small example he has been for me for the new generation.”
Topuria said he knew immediately with his initial power punch that the victory was within his grasp.
“I catch him with … the right hand, I felt it,” Topuria said. “I saw it in his face. You don’t see that often in Max Holloway.”
Topuria opened the match with Holloway’s traditional gesture of pointing to the center of the ring, indicating he wanted to throw down with immediacy. Holloway, instead, pointed to where he was standing.
The two mixed it up in the first round, Topuria doing early damage with leg kicks to Holloway’s lead leg. Both fighters’ boxing skills were on display in the second round, with Holloway landing several big shots. But it was Topuria’s leg kicks that seemingly continued to weaken Holloway.
Then came his two big punches in the third.
“He just landed a shot and I guess it hurt much more than I thought it did,” said Holloway, who fell to 26-8. “I felt great until he did it. No excuses. I felt great, I had a great camp, no injuries. I went out there, did my thing. He was just a better man tonight.”
It was Topuria’s first title defense since capturing the belt with a second-round technical knockout of Alexander Volkanovski at UFC 298 on Feb. 17. MDT/AP
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