Early morning of October 27, "The Bull" Ilia Topuria successfully defended the UFC featherweight championship belt after a knockout victory over Max Holloway at UFC 308.
This is Topuria's first title defense since he defeated "The Great" Alexander Volkanovski at UFC 298. With the win over Holloway, Topuria improved his unbeaten record to 16-0. This victory is even more impressive because Max Holloway had never been knocked out until he was "locked" in the same cage with Topuria.
Topuria knocked out Holloway.
The former featherweight champion took 75 dangerous punches from Topuria, 65% of which landed on his head. Holloway did not do badly, as he had a lead in the number of accurate strikes in the first round. However, Topuria got better and better, completely dominating the third round before landing the decisive blow.
Topuria landed a well-placed right hook that sent Holloway reeling. The UFC champion continued to press, landing a left hook straight to Holloway’s titanic chin. After a few ground-and-pounds, the referee stopped the fight when Holloway was no longer able to fight back, awarding the victory to Ilia Topuria.
In the stands, former Real Madrid captain Sergio Ramos was also there to celebrate with his compatriot. He also did not hesitate to show off a few moves in front of the camera.
Topuria revealed that he and Ramos became friends in 2022, when Topuria had not yet secured a title shot. Now a UFC champion, Ramos is still a regular at Topuria's fights.
Topuria himself is also a Real Madrid fan. In April 2024, he was invited by president Florentino Perez to the Bernabeu stadium to honor his victory over "The Great" Volkanovski at UFC 298, officially winning the featherweight championship.
Ilia Topuria was honored at the Santiago Bernabeu stadium.
Returning to the match at UFC 308, after defeating Max Holloway, Ilia Topuria set the goal of winning more belts in two weight classes: lightweight and welterweight.
"My goal? Probably to be a world champion in three different categories at the same time! You won't see me this skinny at welterweight. I'll be very different. I'll go step by step, win the lightweight title first and then think about welterweight," Topuria said.
This is no easy task, as no UFC fighter has ever won belts in three different weight classes. In addition, the lightweight belt is held by Islam Makhachev. The Russian monster currently has a 26-1 record, with his only loss coming since 2015.
Source: https://vtcnews.vn/sergio-ramos-co-vu-bo-tot-topuria-dam-lech-ham-cuu-vuong-ufc-ar904132.html
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