Max Holloway has questioned current featherweight champion Ilia Topuria’s fight IQ ahead of their title fight at UFC 308 in Abu Dhabi on October 26th after recent comments made by his rival.
Topuria had said during an interview that Holloway would be making a big mistake if he challenged him to go toe-to-toe like he famously did against Justin Gaethje in the dying seconds of the fight last time out to win by knockout.
“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 round,” Topuria stated during an interview with MMAJunkie recently.
“I recommend him to use a helmet because he’s gonna need it… maybe I’m gonna point to the ground.”
Reacting to those comments, Holloway suggested that perhaps Topuria isn’t as smart a fighter as he thinks he is.
“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 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.”
