Outside Source
Holloway fell to Topuria at UFC 308 last October. | Getty/UFC
Max Holloway believes Ilia Topuria’s last three wins are given more credit than they deserve.
Topuria won the featherweight title last year with a brutal knockout win over Alexander Volkanovski. “El Matador” then defended his title by knocking out Holloway for the first time in his career before moving up to lightweight. The undefeated Georgian-Spaniard won the vacant lightweight title last month by knocking out former champ Charles Oliveira.
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While Holloway admits that Topuria has beaten some of the greatest fighters in the sport, he wants to shed light on those opponents’ recent records. Holloway notes that Volkanovski was coming off a vicious knockout loss against Islam Makhachev when he fought Topuria. Many, including Volkanovski himself, believe that he should have taken more time off after the loss against Makhachev. Holloway further noted that Oliveira was coming off just one victory, a split decision over Michael Chandler, when he fought Topuria. However, Holloway gives Topuria due credit for doing what he is supposed to do.
Holloway: Topuria Doing What He is Supposed to Do
“He beat the names, he has the names, you can’t deny that,” Holloway told Shakiel Mahjouri. “… But when you look at that Volk fight, with Volk coming off what he did, that’s just kind of crazy. But people just look at the names. They don’t look at the record… And then me and then Charles did what he did. Charles was on a one-fight win streak. At the end of the day it’s just moments and it’s just names. It is one of the greatest names for sure that he beat, in history. The man is doing what he is supposed to do. The UFC are lining people up for him and he’s just knocking them down, so fair play to him. He’s going out there and doing his job.”
While Volkanovski and Oliveira might not have been in their best shape, Holloway was on a three-fight winning streak and coming off an iconic knockout win over Justin Gaethje when he lost to Topuria. Holloway is now scheduled to fight Dustin Poirier in a trilogy that marks “The Diamond’s” retirement fight at UFC 318 on Saturday at the Smoothie King Center in New Orleans, Louisiana.
This article first appeared at Recent News on Sherdog.com
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