Was Max Holloway supposedly forced to fight at UFC 307? Ilia Topuria had proposed something that neither Dana White nor Alexander Volkanovski agreed to. UFC CEO Dana White recently announced the cards for Noche UFC at The Sphere in Las Vegas. However Max Holloway’s name is not included on the list even after his amazing performance at UFC 300 for BMF, he was not included. Meanwhile, Holloway had made it clear that the featherweight champ Ilia Topuria, was his choice for the next bout.

Now rumors say that Holloway will clash with Topuria at UFC 307. However, Dana White has something else to say.

Dana White shuts down claims of forcing Max Holloway

During the recent press conference, Dana White answered many questions which were controversial and exciting as well. One of them was a question about whether Max Holloway was forced to sign the contract. According to Championship Rounds, that is not true. Dana White said, “I don’t think you ever have to force Max Holloway to fight.”

When the announcement of Noche UFC arrived, fans were disappointed that Holloway was not included. Even Holloway was upset and confessed his feelings. Holloway stated, “This is how I feel about not being on The Sphere card… this is how I feel right here… sh*t sucks bro… feel damaged bro… should have been us, brother… It’s Mexican Independence Day guys, you guys can’t have a Spaniard, who the Mexicans got the independence back from to headline the card on Mexican Independence Day bro..”

There were speculations that Topuria and Holloway might have their bout at Noche UFC at The Sphere. In a recent interview, ‘El Matador’ even claimed that it was Holloway who was delaying the bout due to some family strife. But now things took a turn as Topuria posted, “It seems that the UFC has forced him to say yes. El Matador is back. Congratulations to all UFC fans.” The reporter addressed this post on X/Twitter by Topuria to which White said that Holloway was not forced. On the other hand, Alexander Volkanovski disagreed with these claims by Topuria and said the same to MMA Fighting’s José Youngs. He said that Holloway was not forced into any contracts. 

On the other hand, Ariel Helwani suggested that the pair might clash at UFC 307.

Ariel Helwani on the Topuria vs Holloway rumors

After the post by ‘El Matador’, the MMA world became curious about what was brewing between the two fighters. MMA journalist Ariel Helwani commented on the same and expected that the fight might be scheduled at UFC 307. There is no official announcement but the MMA reporter and podcaster posted on X about it. Helwani proceeded to lay out Dana White’s supposed plans for the remainder of 2024. He predicted the fights between Sean O Malley and Merab Dvalishvili for UFC 306, Max Holloway vs Topuria for UFC 307, Makhachev vs Tsarukyan 2 for UFC 308, and so on. 

He said that the fight was always the Alexa Grasso title defense and then the next plan would be for Topuria vs Holloway on October 5th in Utah. This has not been announced yet and Helwani feels that the UFC boss never reveals his cards. One thing is for sure which is that both these fighters can bring good PPV sales.

Along with that, the recent post on X by Topuria gives more fuel to the fire. So what do you think might happen?