Ilia Topuria is aware of the who. Now he’s simply ready on the when.
After Max Holloway’s unimaginable buzzer-beating KO of Justin Gaethje at UFC 300, ‘Blessed’ was all however assured an opportunity to problem ‘El Matador’ for the featherweight title.
Throughout a current interview with Sportskeeda MMA, Topuria revealed that Holloway will likely be his first challenger with a goal date of September, presumably at UFC 306 when the promotion makes its debut inside The Sphere in Las Vegas.
“My goal is to come back again in September. Proper now we’re within the conversations,” Holloway mentioned. “If Max Holloway is ready to combat in September, we now have a combat. If not, perhaps we’re going to the top of the 12 months or one thing like that. I need to combat as quickly as doable as a result of subsequent 12 months I wanna combat in Spain.”
Although he has but to defend his 145-pound crown since his sensational second-round knockout of Alexander Volkanovski in February, Ilia Topuria is already making an itinerary that can take him into 2025 and past.
As soon as he takes care of some enterprise with Holloway, the Georgian has his sights set on a big-money matchup with Irish megastar Conor McGregor.
“I hope to defend the belt with Max Holloway, after which I wanna combat with Conor McGregor,” Topuria added. “It’s gonna be the most important combat in MMA historical past.”
Ilia Topuria not occupied with a superfight with Islam makhachev… for now
Topuria is even open to a possible scrap with Islam Makhachev — assuming the ‘Dagestani Destroyer’ continues to reign over the light-weight division with an iron fist.
“Perhaps [I could fight Islam] sooner or later,” Topuria mentioned. “Proper now I simply see the Max Holloway combat, the Conor combat. Perhaps if [Islam] retains defending the belt and he retains turning into larger and larger, perhaps someday we are able to see that combat too. However for the second he’s not in my record.”
