Max Holloway has got his eyes on Ilia Topuria vs. Charles Oliveira at UFC 317.
The former UFC Featherweight Champion and current BMF Champion has history with the UFC 317 main event, having beaten Charles Oliveira in 2015 and falling to Ilia Topuria for the title nearly a decade later.
Coming off his first knockout loss to Topuria at UFC 308 in October, Holloway will look to defend his BMF title against Dustin Poirier at UFC 318 and reinsert himself into the title picture against the winner of Topuria vs. Oliveira.
The vacant lightweight title fight is one of the most interesting matchups of the year, with fighters split in their predictions. Top-10 contender Mateusz Gamrot picked Oliveira because of his size advantage while inaugural BMF champion Jorge Masvidal favors the undefeated Topuria.
So, how does the current BMF titleholder Holloway see Topuria vs. Oliveira playing out?
Max Holloway doesn’t think Ilia Topuria vs. Charles Oliveira makes it out of the first round
Topuria and Oliveira both share a near 90% finish rate.
Topuria has never lost in 16 fights and has only been dropped once in his UFC career. Meanwhile, Oliveira has been finished 8 times in his career, four by KO/TKO and four by submission.
Holloway says the fight is closer than some may think.
“If Ilia gets a finish or a knockout, it wouldn’t surprise me,” Holloway said of the UFC 317 headliner on his YouTube channel.
“But if Charles wins with a submission or even a finish of his own, even a knockout finish, it doesn’t surprise me,” Holloway added.
“This fight is super up in the air. A lot of people are counting Charles Oliveira out but that’s when he thrives in, being the underdog. I don’t know how many times we called this man out, and he somehow found a way to win.
“From my perspective, this fight is gonna be decided probably in the first three minutes or four minutes of this fight, the first round, because Oliveira is gonna get touched. Is Ilia gonna touch him with something that puts him all cold or is it gonna hurt him? And then he somehow finds a way to fight back. So, that’s the main thing with this fight. If I was a betting man on this fight and Charles Oliveira, he’s the underdog.
“Charles Oliveira is one of the best fighters in the world to put money on an underdog. That’s all I’m saying. I’m not really picking a winner here.”
Ilia Topuria poses with two belts ahead of UFC 317 title fight
There’s confidence and then there’s Ilia Topuria confidence.
Vowing to make Oliveira’s chin ‘explode’, the former featherweight champion attempts to make history at UFC 317 as one of the few fighters to hold belts in two weight classes.
Days away from his title fight, the 28-year-old Topuria was seen holding two belts on his shoulders for a photoshoot, visualizing what’s to come.
“No one’s gonna believe in you if you don’t believe in yourself first. Living my dreams wide awake,” Topuria wrote on X.
