Ilia Topuria Challenges Max Holloway
Ilia Topuria is one of the hottest sensations in Spanish sports and Mixed Martial Arts (MMA). The current UFC Featherweight World Champion, after defeating Alexander Volkanovski last February, is already eyeing his next opponent, likely Max Holloway.
Nothing has been signed yet, but Topuria insists that if it were up to him, he would face the American "right now." This is his main short-term challenge, with the dream of a fight at Santiago Bernabéu as a future goal. Meanwhile, a match against Conor McGregor seems increasingly unlikely, as he believes McGregor is "finished."
Regarding his ambition to fight Holloway, Topuria remarked: "What excites me the most is being the first to knock him out because no one has ever been able to. I’d like to be the first, although I respect him immensely as an athlete for everything he has achieved in his career."
On the possibility of facing McGregor, the Spaniard stated: "McGregor is finished. Imagine, he hurt a finger and withdrew from the fight when he had millions of fans committed to seeing him. Many people bought their tickets and flights, organized to see him, and he didn’t care. I've run with all ten toes in that condition, ask any high-level athlete if they enter the battlefield in perfect condition."