Max Holloway Believes Ilia Topuria Might Be Lacking in Fight IQ

Ilia Topuria’s recent comments have led Max Holloway to doubt his fight IQ.

Holloway will challenge Topuria for the featherweight title in the main event at UFC 308 on Oct. 26 at Etihad Arena in Abu Dhabi. While “Blessed” was seemingly removed from the featherweight title picture until recently, when a historic BMF title win over Justin Gaethje at UFC 300 this past April earned him an immediate gold bid.

After putting a lopsided beatdown on Gaethje throughout the fight, Holloway pointed to the ground to stand and trade in the final seconds and knocked “The Highlight” out cold. The former featherweight champ’s iconic gesture of pointing to ground has already become a part of MMA folklore and will undoubtedly go down in the history books.

Topuria recently said that he might be the one pointing at the ground to coax Holloway into a slugfest at UFC 308. The Georgian-Spaniard also vowed to knock Holloway out in the first round if the Hawaiian fights the way he did in the final seconds against Gaethje. This led “Blessed” to question the undefeated champ’s fight IQ. Holloway hinted that while there are occasions to create those moments, it is common sense to not fight in the first round like he would in the last. However, Holloway admits that he might be tempted to stand and trade with Topuria if the latter tries to instigate it.

Ilia Topuria says he'll KO Max Holloway if he decides to stand and bang like he did with Justin Gaethje 😳

"If he's gonna bring the same energy he brings in the last 10 seconds of every round, when he [points his finger to the ground], I'm gonna knock him out in the first… pic.twitter.com/yMSxM2BCFZ

— Championship Rounds (@ChampRDS) August 21, 2024

“I saw an interview of him saying that, ‘Bring the last 10 seconds to the first 10 seconds of the fight.’ Which is, his fight IQ might not be there,” Holloway recently told ESPN. “His athleticism and his power and strength is there but might be lacking a little in fight IQ. So, after saying that I was like, ‘Brother you gotta go work on your brain, my guy.’ I mean there’s reasons, there opportunities, there chances you do that kind of stuff. We’ll see what happens. If he does it, how can I step down from that? That’ll be a fun one… I never saw him even have a moment like that with anybody yet. So to do it against a guy who loves to do that, we’ll see that. I’m excited he says that kind of stuff.”