The already bright star of Ilia Topuria reached a blinding point on Saturday after the reigning featherweight champion became the first man to knock down and knock out Max Holloway at UFC 308 in Abu Dhabi.
Elsewhere on the card, Khamzat Chimaev roared back onto the scene with a dominant performance against former middleweight champion Robert Whittaker. Chimaev took Whittaker down in the opening moments and never relented. He continued to hunt for submission attempts with his incredible ground control before finally forcing his forearm across Whittaker’s face and causing a submission. Whittaker said that he thought he dislocated his jaw in the hold. The win ostensibly puts Chimaev on the fast track to a middleweight title showdown with Dricus du Plessis after years of waiting due to illness and injury.
Those were just a few of the storylines that grabbed our attention after a wild night at the fights inside Etihad Arena. Let’s take a closer look at what we learned from UFC 308.
1. Ilia Topuria is the best boxer in the UFC
While that title is a moniker Holloway previously gave to himself inside the cage during his virtuoso dismantling of Calvin Kattar in 2021, it’s safe to say after Saturday’s main event that Topuria has eclipsed him. It’s not just the power or the speed that ultimately makes Topuria such a dangerous puncher. His accuracy is just as sensational, as is his poise and IQ. Following a close and tense opening two rounds that can best be described as high-speed chess between two of the top strikers in the game today, Topuria finally broke through with a brilliant straight right hand that stung Holloway on the nose and caused him to backpedal. But it was the brutal placement of a perfect left hook shortly after which Topuria uncorked from his waist along the cage wall that looped around the guard of Holloway to catch him flush on the chin and knock him down for the first time in his legendary career. Topuria is as precise with his hands as he is devastating. And that appears as if it’s only going to continue to be a problem for the 145-pound division.
2. There’s simply no way to overhype what Topuria just did
Performance of the year? Fighter of the year? Breakout star of the next generation? How about the new pound-for-pound king? Seriously, Topuria’s thrilling knockout of Holloway was so good and so important to the hierarchy of the sport that none of those superlatives above would be out of place should one want to heap it atop the Georgian fighter who was born in Germany and now calls Spain his beloved, adopted home. For as incredible as Topuria’s second-round knockout of Alexander Volkanovski was to commandeer the 145-pound title in February, adding a similar demolition of Holloway in back-to-back fights, in the same calendar year is quite literally the stuff of legend. While Topuria’s overwhelming confidence turned off a lot of fans and critics to open 2024 as he continued his rise up the featherweight ranks, there really isn’t much negative you can say about the 27-year-old after the way he closed out the calendar year. Yes, Topuria is confident but he’s also humble, hard-working and a completely well-rounded fighter who is on the verge of helping UFC break into a market like Spain it has always dreamed of. “El Matador” is also a magnet for European sports celebrities, as evidenced by soccer star Sergio Ramos celebrating with him inside the cage. It was going to take something truly spectacular out of Topuria to have a shot at besting light heavyweight champion Alex Pereira in the fighter of the year race considering “Poaton” is fresh off of three title defenses, all by stoppage, in a span of a UFC-record 175 days. But Topuria might have done just that due to what he just did to yet another pound-for-pound ranked fighter in Holloway.
3. Khamzat Chimaev is back to being an absolute force of nature at 185 pounds
In hindsight, it didn’t feel wrong to question whether the 30-year-old native of Chechnya was really as good as his hype said he was through 13 pro fights. Injuries, illnesses and a few unexplained events had conspired in recent years to slow down Chimaev’s momentum. Not to mention that during fight week, Chimaev looked almost too relaxed — almost to the point of distraction — entering such a difficult fight against Whittaker, the former middleweight champion and future Hall of Famer. But boy did Chimaev turn things around in a hurry on fight night. After running to the cage from the backstage area ahead of introductions, Chimaev shot for a takedown within the first 15 seconds and never let Whittaker back up to his feet. Three minutes later, a neck crank broke the jaw of Whittaker and produced an instant tap. When Chimaev is healthy, there is simply no limit to his true potential. And even though he entered the fight as just the No. 13-ranked middleweight after moving up from 170 pounds in 2022, Chimaev proved against Whittaker that it wouldn’t be out of line for him to get the next title shot, even if that meant him jumped former champion Sean Strickland in line to get to current king Dricus du Plessis. Make no mistake, Chimaev put every single middleweight on notice with the ease in which he destroyed such an all-time great opponent.
4. Enough already, it’s time for Magomed Ankalaev to get his shot at Alex Pereira
Passed over for the most recent shot at Pereira’s 205-pound title in place of No. 8–ranked Khalil Rountree Jr., Ankalaev was tasked with not only defeating No. 5 Aleksandr Rakic on Saturday, but UFC brass added that he needed to look exciting in order to secure a title shot. Nearly two years after he fought to a disappointing draw in his vacant title fight against Jan Blachowicz, now is the time for Ankalaev to get what he already deserved. Anakalev extended his unbeaten streak to 13 fights with a hard-fought decision win against Rakic in a fight that saw zero takedown attempts from Ankalaev and constant forward motion as the striking aggressor. Was Anakalev’s performance up to the expectations of Dana White and company? According to the UFC CEO at the post-fight press conference, there’s a great chance Ankalaev will be next. He deserves it. Enough said.
5. Sharabutdin Magomedov might not be a finished product but he’s sure fun to watch
As the rare UFC fighter from Dagestan, Russia, without a dominant wrestling game, it has been easy for many critics to question just how good “Shara Bullet” actually is. And through four unbeaten trips to the Octagon, the jury is still out as to whether the 30-year-old is truly a future title contender in waiting or not. Whether or not he gets there, let’s continue to enjoy the ride as the red-haired and bearded striker makes fun fights happen. On Saturday, he also recorded one of the craziest finishes in UFC history in his second-round knockout of Armen Petrosyan as Magomedov’s initial spinning backfist attempt was blocked only for him to instantly attempt the same move off of the other shoulder, which caught Petrosyan clean on the chin to end the fight.
