Ilia Topuria: “It’s not because of me… They called me to say that Max Holloway was having family issues…”
Max Holloway: “Guy is just making things up at this stage, I been ready.”

Since sending Justin Gaethje out of the canvas at the historic UFC 300 for the BMF title, former featherweight champion Max Holloway has kept his sights on division king Ilia Topuria for a title match. However, the matchup has continuously been delayed, and this led ‘Blessed’ to make serious allegations against Dana White and company, stating, “I’m going to prove, come Oct. 26, why the UFC was shelling him away from me.”

Although the fight date for the UFC 308 Abu Dhabi card has finally been announced, MMA fans who have criticized both ‘El Matador’ and Dana White for deliberately delaying the fight still echo this sentiment. Now Michael Bisping weighed in on the issue, claiming to know the reason why the UFC has postponed Max Holloway vs. Ilia Topuria.

In his new YouTube video, Bisping shared, “I think it was the other way around. They didn’t want, listen, let’s just say Max Holloway was to beat Ilia Topuria. As they were coming up, they’ve got two contenders. Max Holloway beats everybody not named Volk. Ilia Topuria is doing massive things. They fight each other, and Holloway wins again. What are we gonna do? Volk versus Holloway 4?”

Well, Holloway may not like Bisping’s opinion, but there is some truth to it. Holloway faced Alexander Volkanovski thrice- UFC 245, UFC 251 and UFC 276. But unfortunately, he lost all three times via decisions. On the other hand, ‘El Matador’ faced Volk just once in his career (UFC 298) and managed a KO finish in round 2.

Bisping’s theory seems interesting, but it doesn’t align with Ilia Topuria’s last remark. When the buzz about his first title defense fight against Max Holloway began, ‘El Matador’ made a bold statement questioning Holloway’s availability for the title shot.

Ilia Topuria blamed Max Holloway for the fight delay!

After facing heavy trolling from the MMA community back in July for flaunting his UFC featherweight status across Europe instead of putting it on the line against Max Holloway, Ilia Topuria, in an attempt to protect his reputation, tried to shift the blame for the delay of their highly anticipated fight onto ‘Blessed’.

During the launch event for his biography, Matador, Topuria claimed Holloway was dealing with personal issues, stating, “It’s not because of me. They [The UFC] called me to say that Max Holloway was having family issues, that he was having trouble cutting weight, and that he wanted to fight in a higher weight class.”

This quickly irked ‘Blessed’s attention, and he couldn’t resist responding. Now it seems the fight will finally take place at UFC 306 in October. While the potential fight is still more than a month away, Bisping’s remarks have sparked a debate. What’s next for Max Holloway if he wins the belt? Because Volkanovski is the current #1 contender but is also coming off two back-to-back KO losses.

Well, we can find these answers later on, but first fans need to see what happens at Holloway versus Topuria. The outcome of this fight will decide the future of the featherweight division. What do you think?