Featherweight champion Ilia Topuria did the undoable at UFC 308 when he knocked out Max Holloway to not only retain his title but also hand ‘Blessed’ his first knockout defeat. It was all respect after the fight and his coach recently weighed in on what transpired in Abu Dhabi over the weekend. Topuria’s coach, Jorge Climent, seems to have been impressed with the fight that Holloway put up against ‘El Matador’, but it seemed like he undermined the BMF champion.

“When someone asked me before, I tell that I think he’s going to beat [Holloway] in the second and I think he’s going to cut with the left and ending [with] ground and pound with the right,” Ilia Topuria’s coach stated on the ‘Submission Radio’ podcast. Jorge Climent wanted to see Ilia Topuria do a bit more by taking Max Holloway to the ground and then setting up the finish. He wanted Topuria to make ‘Blessed’ as tired as much as he could.

“But it was in the third round… The real thing is I wanted he do it like with a little more wrestling for make him tired, you know, and end with a tick out and finish with ground and pound,” Ilia Topuria’s coach added. Climent pointed out through his comments that ‘El Matador’ was simply a better fighter than him.

Meanwhile, Max Holloway broke his silence soon after the fight ended, revealing what he thinks went wrong against Ilia Topuria. The Hawaiian simply claimed that he failed to notice one of the oncoming strikes from the champion, which was very consequential to the fight.

Max Holloway reveals the mistake he made against Ilia Topuria

Despite getting knocked out by ‘El Matador’, Max Holloway claimed that he didn’t feel the kind of power Ilia Topuria was talking about during the pre-press conference. Nevertheless, he did acknowledge the things that the Georgian-Spaniard star did right during the battle. “The first couple of rounds, he landed a couple of right hooks, left hooks, took me down, he didn’t feel too strong,” Holloway stated during the post-fight presser.

Moreover, Blessed also claimed that he made the grave mistake of letting Ilia Topuria capitalize on his mistakes. He couldn’t even see the strikes that came his way once he fell to the mat. But in typical Max Holloway fashion, he’s now looking forward to the next challenge. “Gave him inches, man. Gave him inches. He landed something, and I found myself looking at him up from the ground. It is what it is,” Max Holloway added.

Ilia Topuria, now, seems to have turned his attention to an Alexander Volkanovski rematch. But for Max Holloway, it’s not sure what his next move will be. He still has the BMF title and maybe that’s what he’ll focus on now. What do you think? Drop your comments below.