UFC Featherweight champion Ilia Topuria is very much interested in a match up against the new BMF champion Max Holloway, as long as both belts are up for grabs should they meet inside the octagon.
The 27-year-old was front and centre at UFC 300, at T-Mobile Arena to watch the events of the night unfold, with one bout being of particular interest to him.
Speaking to Ariel Helwani on The MMA Hour, revealed he was in attendance in the hopes that Holloway would be victorious,
“Yeah, I was just hoping for him to win because if he was to win, I was supposed to fight him next. So he did a great job, to be honest. The greatest moments in the fight, we all know was the last 10 seconds. Without that, I didn't like the fight at all. But what makes that fight special was the last 10 seconds a real bad motherf***er moment? So you have to you have to give him his credit. But, yes, I hopefully we're going to we're going to share the Octagon by the end of the year and we know what's going to happen.”
The BMF title fight was one of the biggest talking points post UFC 300 but for Topuria, as much as he enjoyed it, he felt there was a substantial lack of skill across the contest. He said:
“I didn't see any technique. I didn't see any strategy. I didn't see any power. I didn't see anything. You know, I didn't see any head movement, I just see like a bar fight, you know, even the last 10 seconds, it was amazing as a fan perspective it was great to watch. Yeah, but before that I wasn’t impressed at all.”
‘El Matador’ gave props to Holloway for getting his hand raised but envisions a bout between himself and Holloway looking entirely different as Topuria will look to be on the front foot from the second the first bell rings.
“He deserved that win and you have to give him the credit. But fighting with me, it's going to be like completely different because I don't make take any steps back. You know, I all the time I walk forward, I can wrestle. I can go to the ground. I can punch you and I move. I go inside that cage with a strategy. You know, I don't go there just to throw some punches.”
The unbeaten athlete even went as far to say he could become the first athlete to knock out the Hawaiian, a feat none of his previous opponents have managed. Even if the knock out doesn’t present itself, Topuria anticipates he can dictate the full flow of the contest and ultimately decide how and when the bout will end.
“I know that I will be the first one to take his lights out. I know that I'm way better than him everywhere. I can do with him whatever I want to do, I just can ask him, like, how you want me to finish you? You want me to knock you out? You want me to submit you? What do you want me to do it?”
Even though the Featherweight champion believes he can beat Holloway in any area the fight goes, he admitted to Helwani that unless the BMF title is on the line, he will likely explore a rematch with former champion Alexander Volkanovski instead.
“Without the BMF belt, I don't want him at all. If not, I'm going to fight with Volk, who deserves more than him, the rematch. He has that belt, I'm excited about that.
“That's why I want him. He has been saying like ‘Right now I have a lot of options this and that. He didn't have any options, I’m the champion right now. I choose the date I choose the place, so he just has to be ready and he has to wait for the call. Whenever I want him, he has to be ready.”
You can watch the full MMA Hour interview below:
