UFC featherweight champion Ilia Topuria knows exactly what he is gonna do to Max Holloway in their UFC 308 title clash on October 26. Speaking to reporters on the pre-fight press conference for the Abu Dhabi card, ‘El Matador’ revealed that he intends to repeat what he did to Alexander Volkanovski in his bout against Holloway. But this time around, he intends to do it a round earlier to successfully defend his 145-pound title for the first time.

“It’s gonna be exactly the same, I’m gonna take his lights out in the first round. I took his [Volkanovski’s] lights out in the second round but in this case, it’s gonna be a little bit different. I’m gonna do it in the first round,” the ever-confident Topuria declared at the UFC 308 pre-fight press conference.

Of course, the Spanish-Georgian native has vowed to point to the center of the octagon, inviting Holloway to get into a firefight with him as soon as the first bell for their fight is rung. But knocking out ‘Blessed’ will not be as easy for ‘El Matador’ since the Hawaaian native does not intend to throw away his height and reach advantage to stand and bang with Topuria at the beginning of the fight.

This means Topuria will have to work hard to secure that knockout which will be no easy feat. After all, Holloway’s granite chin has never failed him before, which is why he has never been knocked out in his pro-fighting career. Not to mention the former champ is one of the (if not the) best boxers in the entire promotion. But Holloway isn’t the only one Topuria intends to beat at his own game.

Ilia Topuria vows to be the first to submit Islam Makhachev after knocking out Max Holloway

After beating Max Holloway, Ilia Topuria wants to move up and fight lightweight champion Islam Makhachev for the latter’s title and a shot at becoming a two-division concurrent UFC champion. At the UFC 308 press conference, however, the Spaniard somewhat walked back his earlier demands, leaving the decision of what comes next for him up to Dana White and co. But, despite this, the Spanish national did make the eyebrow-raising claim that he would be the first to submit Makhachev should they ever fight.

“Before I used to make more predictions about that. I wanna fight this one or that one but at the end of the day I wanna do my job which is to show up and fight and we’ll see what the UFC wants me to do. They call me and they want me to move up to the lightweight division, I will be okay with that to move up and be the first to submit Islam [Makhachev],” Topuria said.

Of course, Makhachev is perhaps the most dangerous and effective grappler in the entire UFC at the moment and has the best ground game in the entire division. And submitting him will be almost like beating a cheetah in a sprint or a shark at swimming. But Topuria, it is important to remember, holds a black belt in BJJ and came into MMA from a Greco-Roman wrestling background.

But is he as good as to be able to submit Islam Makhachev in the octagon? Well, Topuria certainly genuinely believes so. And that is half the battle. What are your thoughts on Topuria’s prediction for the Holloway fight?