By Leobert Julian A. de la Peña
Ilia Topuria is still the king of the Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) featherweight division after handing Max Holloway his first knockout loss of his professional Mixed Martial Arts (MMA) career on October 27, 2024, at the Etihad Arena in Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates (UAE).
Topuria walked his talk, as he promised a one-sided beating before their highly-anticipated featherweight title clash.
Without any doubt, Topuria proved why he is on another level after successfully defending his belt, halting Holloway’s three-match winning streak that began in April 2023.
It wasn’t an easy fight for the defending champion as Holloway got the better of him in the early stand-up fight exchanges.
Equipped with his signature octagon generalship and experience on the big stage, Holloway out-pointed Topuria with his sneaky right jabs and deployed early leg kicks to control the pace of the fight.
However, Topuria grabbed slight momentum heading into the second round when he scored a takedown in the final 15 seconds of the first frame.
After clipping Holloway with his leg, Topuria wisely crawled down and grabbed the challenger’s body, resulting in a clean takedown score.
Both fighters engaged freely in the second round as Holloway switched stances and decided to test Topuria’s chin when the third-minute mark ticked.
Fearless and unbothered, Topuria countered with his left straight punches that rocked Holloway several times.
To cap off the second round, Topuria scored four significant leg kicks that Holloway failed to check with his knee.
Everyone in attendance stood up when the back-and-forth third round began, with Holloway kicking things off with a 1-2 jab-hook combination.
It didn’t take long for Topuria to retaliate as his slick counter right jabs disrupted Holloway’s combination pattern, followed by his snappy leg kicks.
In the 3:30 mark of the third, Topuria pulled off the biggest highlight of the match after knocking down Holloway with a counter-left jab.
As Holloway kissed the canvas, Topuria got the job done after pummeling him with six hammer fists that forced the match referee to stop the fight.
With the win, Topuria is still undefeated in 16 fights and made his first title defense after snatching the belt from Alexander Volkanovski in February.
