The biggest featherweight fight of the year is upon us, and yes, some people have already piped in their predictions for the fight. Ilia Topuria and Max Holloway have been on each other’s necks for months and now they finally get to resolve that beef inside the Octagon at UFC 308. Meanwhile, UFC legend Chael Sonnen chimed into the conversation recently, claiming that he predicts there’s only one way for ‘El Matador’ to derail ‘The Blessed Express’.

Ilia Topuria’s trajectory to the UFC Championship gold has been compared to Conor McGregor in a lot of ways. Both won their titles in their seventh UFC outing, but Chael Sonnen believes that ‘El Matador’ has to dig deep to beat the relentless Max Holloway. By digging deep, ‘The American Gangster’ means Topuria has to knock out the reigning BMF champion.

“So what will happen if Ilia Topuria knocks out Max Holloway, which, btw the way, I think is the only way he’s going to beat him… I think one of these guys has got to stop the other one because of that heart and that grit that ‘I’m coming after you. I’m gonna keep on trying to win’, I don’t think that a switch that gets flipped,” said Sonnen on his YouTube channel.

If we take a look at ‘Blessed’s record, he has never lost a fight from a knockout, but the UFC legend also mentioned that Max Holloway has proved himself despite failing to reclaim the featherweight title from Alexander Volkanovski, who was defeated by Ilia Topuria. Also, Chael Sonnen thinks that there’s still something for the Georgian-Spaniard to prove.

Chael Sonnen claims Ilia Topuria hasn’t shown enough of what he can do inside the Octagon

Ilia Topuria’s rise to becoming the featherweight champion has been a faster one than most of the other 145’ers. He captured the belt in less than four years of fighting under the UFC banner. But has that proved his mettle? Well, Chael Sonnen thinks there’s a lot more for the Georgian-Spaniard to do to cement his legacy as one of the greats. However, he did iterate the brutal nature of the beating that Topuria laid upon Josh Emmett back in 2023.

“We must be pretty fair with Ilia Topuria. We don’t know a ton [about him]. One of the times that Topuria, for me… really opened my eyes was this fight with Josh Emmett and that’s a fight that you don’t even think of,” Chael Sonnen added. “That was a fight, with me, where I stood back and go, ‘Hey, wait a minute. There is something here.'”

Could Ilia Topuria do the same against Max Holloway and legitimize his champion status? Well, that remains to be seen. Regardless, let us know your thoughts on the prediction Chael Sonnen has for the UFC 308 headliner in the comments down below.