Back in April, at the historic UFC 300, 32-year-old Max Holloway stunned everyone with his performance, particularly when he knocked Justin Gaethje out of the canvas and claimed the BMF title. The whole world witnessed the scene, including UFC featherweight king Ilia Topuria, who was present at the T-Mobile Arena and whose facial expression indicated that he didn’t want to fight ‘Blessed’. Despite this, ‘El Matador’ caught everyone off guard by calling out Holloway for his first title defense, leaving fans and even Holloway himself puzzled. The reason behind Topuria’s decision remained unresolved until ‘Blessed’ clarified it in a recent interview with a reputable MMA media outlet.

Following his victory over Alexander Volkanovski and remaining undefeated, Ilia Topuria expressed his desire to move up to the lightweight division earlier this year. However, this now seems questionable. This issue was recently raised by ESPN MMA’s reporter Bret Okamoto in an interview with Max Holloway, where he asked ‘Blessed’ , “ For a period of time, it almost seemed like he was expressing that he was not interested in fighting any the top contender at 145. What do you make of Ilia Topuria? Can you get a read on him?”

Max Holloway, without wasting any time, expressed his surprise at not being able to pinpoint the reason behind it. He claimed, “After the UFC 300 moment, the camera was on him and, I don’t know, the dude is just…he’s himself, you know what I mean? He’s an odd fellow.” Holloway then disclosed his confusion over ‘El Matador’s’ latest remark on his photo, which gave him mixed signals. He said, “You know, I just noticed yesterday that some people were tagging me on Instagram and Twitter, and I saw that he commented on one of my Instagram post, saying ‘Let’s go, Max!’ I think he’s a fan of mine.”

Is Ilia Topuria a Max Holloway fan? That’s hard to say, but Topuria’s behavior has been described as ‘weird,’ which isn’t entirely inaccurate. In a past interview on YouTube, Topuria stated to the media that his fight against American natives is not happening. He shifted the blame to Holloway and his family issues, which was later dismissed by ‘Blessed’ himself with a blunt reply.

When Max Holloway dismissed Ilia Topuria’s claims

Since winning the featherweight title in February, Georgian native Ilia Topuria has taken some time off from the sport to travel around Spain with his family and promote his upcoming biography, ‘Matador’. During this period, he was also offered Spanish citizenship by the officials, which he later happily accepted.

During the promotion of his book, a reporter asked about the rumors regarding his first title defense against Max Holloway. Topuria dismissed the fight rumors in his usual style, saying, “It’s not because of me. They called me to say that Max Holloway was having family issues, that he was having trouble cutting weight, and that he wanted to fight in a higher weight class. Honestly, I don’t know. I have no idea.”

However, when ‘Blessed’ learned about ‘El Matador’s’ statement, he took to social media to dismiss it, claiming it was just a rumor. He said, “The guy is just making things up at this stage. I’ve been ready.” What are your thoughts on Max Holloway’s remark? Do you think Ilia Topuria is really a fan of ‘Blessed’, or is he just playing mind games ahead of his first title defense? Drop your opinion below.