Ilia Topuria shocked the UFC world by knocking out the nigh unbeatable (at featherweight at least) Alexander Volkanovski in their UFC 298 clash this February. And it wasn’t just a lucky shot that caught ‘Volk’ unaware. No. Even though Volkanovski outstruck ‘El Matador’ in the first round, Topuria caught the Aussie with some hard strikes, which even got visible reactions from ‘Alexander The Great’.

The Spanish-Georgian national left no doubts in the second round, however, as he caught him with a fantastic left hook, sending Volkanovski to the shadow realm. And with this largely one-sided win, ‘El Matador’ thinks Max Holloway will be a much easier opponent than Volkanovski.

“Volk was much tougher than Max Holloway… he was much tougher, much [more] experienced. Even the style was a little bit more difficult for me than Max Holloway’s style. I don’t feel any danger from Max Holloway. He’s not good on the ground… he doesn’t have that knockout power. He’s a fighter of a lot of volume but that’s it,” Topuria said in an interview with TVP Sport.

After all, ‘Volk’, while primarily a striker, holds a brown belt in BJJ and like Topuria, comes from a Greco-Roman wrestling background. But Holloway is a pure striker, with world-class boxing, even though he doesn’t really have the kind of power Topuria and Volkanovski have. But the Hawaaian’s lack of a ground game remains the biggest hole in his game going into UFC 308, especially since ‘El Matador’ has explicitly made it clear he plans on exploiting it.

Ilia Topuria will take Max Holloway to the ground if he can’t get an early knockout

Ilia Topuria has promised that as soon as the first bell rings for his UFC 308 clash, he will do a ‘Holloway’ and point to the center of the octagon, inviting ‘Blessed’ to stand and engage in a striking fest with him. The reigning champ will do this because he wants to break the record for the quickest knockout in UFC history. If that is, Holloway obliges him and takes the bait.

If not, Topuria has another plan- take the former champion down and maul him there. And that perhaps will be the biggest challenge the former champion faces. After all, Holloway is not only lethal on the feet, but also has a size and reach advantage over the featherweight champion but has never showcased his ground game inside the octagon.

But even there ‘Blessed’ will be in danger of catching one of Topuria’s powerful strikes just like Volkanovski. Especially if Topuria can close the distance and back the Hawaii native against the cage, where Holloway’s reach advantage will come to naught. What do you think about Ilia Topuria comparing Max Holloway and Alexander Volkanovski? What are your predictions for UFC 308’s main event? Tell us in the comment section below!