International Courant
Ilia Topuria defends his featherweight championship in opposition to Max Holloway, whereas Khamzat Chimaev of Chechnya stays undefeated within the middleweight division.
Champion Ilia Topuria overcame early adversity to attain a powerful third-round knockout victory over Hawaii’s Max Holloway to retain the UFC featherweight title at UFC 308 on the Etihad Area in Abu Dhabi, UAE.
The 27-year-old Topuria scored an early takedown however struggled to shut the space in the course of the first two frames of an intriguing title struggle. As soon as he figured it out, the writing was on the wall for his opponent.
Holloway, who defeated Jose Aldo to change into the undisputed featherweight champion in June 2017 however misplaced the title in December 2019, used his dazzling array of strikes to maintain his Georgia-born opponent at bay, however Topuria’s piston-like proper hand formed the whole match a risk. Saturday night.
That proper hand was the start of Holloway’s downfall, but it surely was a brief follow-up left that despatched Holloway crashing to the canvas and Topuria rapidly adopted him to the bottom, raining blows earlier than referee Marc Goddard stepped in to cease the struggle.
“I felt it with that proper hand. I simply noticed it with him, in his face, he began to take a couple of steps again, and you do not see that always with Max,” Topuria stated, paying tribute to his opponent as Holloway suffered his first UFC knockout loss -tenure suffered.
“I hope I will likely be a small a part of the instance he has been for me, for the brand new technology.”
Chimaev’s victory units up a attainable title struggle with Du Plessis
Within the co-main occasion, undefeated Chechen Khamzat Chimaev placed on one other dominant wrestling show earlier than submitting former champion Robert Whittaker within the first spherical of their middleweight bout.
Chimaev wasted no time in taking the Australian down, utilizing his limpet-like wrestling to manage Whittaker earlier than taking him onto his again and locking on to a facelock that appeared to dislocate his opponent’s jaw, leaving him with a really fast faucet pressured entry with 1:26 left. the primary body.
Chimaev is now tipped to be the primary contender to struggle South Africa’s Dricus Du Plessis for the UFC middleweight world title in early 2025 in what can be a blockbuster bout.
Khamzat Chimaev, again, chokes out Robert Whittaker throughout a middleweight bout at UFC Battle Night time on Saturday, October 26, 2024 in Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates (Altaf Qadri/AP)
Topuria retains the featherweight title at UFC 308; Chimaev defeats Whittaker | Combined Martial Arts Information
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