Ilia Topuria believes that Max Holloway may not be entering their UFC 308 title fight with the same level of conviction as he has shown in the past. ‘El Matador’, who is confident to a fault is convinced, as usual, he will beat ‘Blessed’ in their October 26 main event bout. Speaking to MMA journalist Ariel Helwani on the latter’s YouTube show, the champ felt that their recent virtual face-off provided clear evidence that Holloway doesn’t think he can beat the Georgian-Spaniard.

Why? Because of ‘Blessed’s off-repeated go-to response during that face-off when asked for a prediction or indeed challenged by Topuria during their heated interaction.

“When I was talking to him he was all like [When the interviewer asked him] ‘Max do you think you’re going to win?’, [Holloway would say] ‘We’re gonna find out October 26.’ ‘Max, what’s your surname?’ ‘We’re gonna find out October 26.’ Everything I understood from that conversation was ‘We will find out what happens on October 26.’ I already know what’s gonna happen on October 26. I don’t need to wait till that date,” Topuria said.

Topuria is admittedly exaggerating how often Holloway said “We’ll find out October 26,” but not by much. But to be fair to Holloway, he isn’t really the trash-talking, insult-his-opponents-before-their-fight type of fighter, and is usually extremely respectful of his rivals. On the other hand, Topuria belongs firmly to the Conor McGregor camp of trash-talking. Not to mention the Spaniard is a big believer in manifesting your own destiny and speaking things into existence.

That is why ‘El Matador’ has already bought a replica of the BMF title and declared himself the champion, despite Holloway currently holding that prize. What makes this stunt even more amusing is that the BMF belt will not even be up for grabs in their upcoming clash. But there is one record up for grabs that the Spanish national thinks he has a good chance of getting.

Ilia Topuria wants to dethrone Jorge Masvidal as fastest UFC knockout record holder at UFC 308

What makes Max Holloway such a legendary fighter and fan favorite is his granite chin. After all, the former featherweight champion has never been knocked out or even really rocked in a fight. And Topuria is not only sure he will be the first to knock out Holloway, but also knock him out in record time.

“I wanna have the fastest knockout in UFC history with my hands because Jorge (Masvidal) has it with a knee, I wanna do it with the hands… I don’t have any doubts I’m going to knock him out so if he stays in the middle in the first 10 seconds of the fight, we’re going to see the fastest knockout in UFC history,” Topuria told Helwani.

Jorge Masvidal‘s iconic five-second flying knee knockout of Ben Askren, of course, is currently the fastest knockout in UFC history. And if Holloway chooses to stand and bang with Topuria at the beginning of their fight, Topuria is sure he will dethrone Masvidal for the quickest-ever UFC knockout. What are your thoughts on Ilia Topuria’s take on Max Holloway’s lack of confidence?