Max Holloway has hit back at Ilia Topuria’s suggestion that they trade in the middle of the cage from the first bell in their showdown this weekend.
The featherweight champion has suggested that he will re-enact the moment when Holloway pointed to the mat in his stunning UFC 300 stoppage of Justin Gaethje. But he believes that they should set that pace from the first few seconds instead of the last.
However, Holloway reckons that it is a stupid idea. He plans to show off his multi-faceted boxing game in the main event of UFC 308, which will include moving and evading punches as well as just throwing down indiscriminately.
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Ilia Topuria wants to throw down early with Max Holloway
Towards the end of Max Holloway’s BMF title fight with Gaethje in April, it appeared that the Hawaiian was cruising towards a decision victory with five dominant rounds. But with seconds on the clock he pointed to the centre of the cage, indicating that the pair should go punch for punch in the final moment.
Holloway was greatly rewarded for that gamble as with one second left on the clock he left Gaethje unconscious, landing a massive bonus-winning victory. It made him the third man to hold the ‘BMF’ title, and saw him become one of the biggest stories of the year in MMA.
Now, Topuria wants to lay his claim to the BMF title by offering fans what he calls the ‘most exciting ten seconds’ in UFC history. To do that, he wants Holloway to recreate that moment, but do it from the first bell instead of waiting for round five.
“In the first ten seconds of the fight, I’m going to point to the ground and we’ll see what he’s going to do,” Topuria said during a recent appearance on The Ariel Helwani Show. “I will be in the middle of the octagon, so let’s bang bro. If you’re ready, I was born ready.
“First ten seconds, I’m going to point [to] the middle of the octagon and I will stay there. I want to give the best and the most exciting ten seconds in the UFC history to the fans, they deserve it. And if he stays in the middle, I promise I’m going to knock him out, I’m going to take his head off.
“I prepared myself for that…. He’s calling himself the BMF, so that’s one of the things we’re going to find out. If he is the BMF or if he is a p**** like all of the people who are predicting that I am going to lose to Max Holloway.”
Max Holloway laughs off Ilia Topuria’s suggestion
However, it doesn’t seem that Holloway is too keen to play into Ilia Topuria’s suggestion. He notes that if the Georgian is such an accomplished boxer, as he claims, then he should be willing to show off technique and movement during a longer fight than just a few seconds.
The BMF champion also noted that being a ‘Bad Mother F***er’ does not mean that one has to be stupid in their game plan. He believes that Topuria would be more suited to a ‘DMF’ belt, meaning ‘Dumbest Mother F***er’.
“The point down moment, I don’t think he gets the gist of it,” Holloway told MMA Fighting. “At the end of the day the point down, it’s something that you do towards the ending of the fight. If something is going good, if the fight is entertaining or you’re winning, you give the other guy a shot.
“The moment is the moment for a reason. The belt is called the ‘Blessed Man Forever’ or what you guys want to call ‘the baddest mother f***er’. If the belt was the ‘DMF,’ the dumbest mother f***er, then maybe I would get sucked into it.
“It’s far from that. Like what I told you, and I told him, he talks about being boxer, that’s not very much boxer IQ’ish of him. But we’ll see what happens.”
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