Ilia Topuria is reportedly set to defend his featherweight title against Max Holloway at UFC 308 in Abu Dhabi
The much-anticipated bout between Ilia Topuria and Max Holloway for the UFC featherweight title is getting closer to becoming official. In a recent report by the Spanish news outlet MARCA MMA, a verbal agreement has been made by the champion Ilia Topuria, and his challenger, Max 'Blessed' Holloway.
They made the report on Instagram, with the caption (translated from Spanish):
"TOPURIA vs. MAX en ABU DHABI ‼️🔥INFO @blessedmma ➡️ we can advance that there is VERBAL AGREEMENT for @iliatopuria to defend the featherweight belt next October 26 in the United Arab Emirates against @marca ✅🤝 The signing of the contracts is missing but the verbal agreement exists 👈🏼 The event will be in perfect timing for the Spanish audience 💥 🙌🏼"
A massive world title fight in Abu Dhabi spells a big pay-per-view card for the UFC. They always deliver big fights every time they travel to the Middle East. With a highly-anticipated battle in the main event, expect the main card to be just as high-profile.
UFC president Dana White says booking Ilia Topuria vs. Max Holloway in Spain is difficult at the moment
This news coincides with UFC president Dana White's statement about the problem of booking Ilia Topuria vs. Max Holloway in the former's home country of Spain. As it turns out, Spanish venues are currently overbooked with events since COVID restrictions came down.
In an interview with Adam Catterall of TNT Sports, White addressed the issue with UFC Spain and also his plans to bring the fights to Africa, saying:
"The problem with Topuria and Spain is Spain's venues are so backed up since COVID. They have so many events going on. It's hard to get a venue there. But when we can, we will definitely do that."
White continued:
"And what was the other -- you know, I wanna go to Africa. We're still working on an Africa fight; not just South Africa, but Africa. You know, 'cause everybody will make the argument, 'If you go to South Africa, that's not really Africa.' That's Africa to me. But we'll still look to go to other parts of Africa. It's important to me."