Earlier this week UFC featherweight champion Ilia Topuria appeared to be on-board with the idea of fighting newly crowned BMF titleholder Max Holloway next, but he’s now added an extra stipulation into the fight negotiations.
“The only thing questionable about me is whether I finish you by ko or submission,” Topuria wrote to Holloway on X. “I just beat the guy that beat you not once, not twice, but 3 times. You now have the one thing that keeps you relevant and that would grant you a money fight, the BMF belt. I no longer fight for money but for legacy. Winning that belt while holding my title will cement me as the first. The first to hold both belts. The first to knock out volk and what most certainly will happen when we fight, the first one to put you to sleep. Something to calm you down is this: God doesn’t shame anyone. You will have a worthy defeat against a champion who will be remembered for eternity.”
Not finished there, Topuria also suggested that if Holloway doesn’t agree to his demands then he’ll go and fight Brian Ortega instead.
“I decide who, when, and where. If you don’t like the terms I’m sure Ortega will oblige .”
That’s a bold statement from the recently crowned champ, but the reality is that the UFC brass decide who fights who, when and where, and with the buzz surrounding Holloway following his last-second KO win over Justin Gaethje, it seems very likely that this is a match-up they would be eager to put together, regardless of whether the BMF title is on the line.
