Max Holloway claims UFC protected Ilia Topuria, Dana White talks Jake Paul stunt, Paddy Pimblett breaks food eating record: MMA News Roundup
Max Holloway claims the UFC has protected Ilia Topuria, Dana White reacts to Jake Paul sneaking into The Sphere, and Paddy Pimblett breaks chicken wing eating record.
Find out more details in today's (Sept. 18) Sportskeeda daily news roundup.
#3. Max Holloway believes the UFC has protected Ilia Topuria from facing him
At UFC 308, Max Holloway will once again have the chance to become the featherweight champion when he faces Ilia Topuria in the main event.
'El Matador' is currently 7-0 in his UFC career and picked up the 145-pound title back in February when he knocked out Alexander Volkanovski. The Georgian-Spaniard has since been hailed by fans for his speedy rise in the promotion, but Holloway believes that's only been the case because they haven't fought one another yet.
Speaking about Topuria's rise on his YouTube channel, Holloway stated that the only reason the 27-year-old has become the champion is because the promotion purposefully avoided locking them into a fight. He said:
"A lot of people are giving Ilia heat for the strength of the schedule he had to the title fight...He beat a guy that I had three times to beat, and he did it. But I believe they made me fight every other contender at 145 [pounds] except him for a reason...I'm going to prove come October 26 why the UFC were shelling him away from me."
Catch Holloway's comments here (1:10):
#2. Dana White weighs in on Jake Paul's recent stunt of sneaking into The Sphere for UFC 306
Dana White recently provided his reaction to Jake Paul's latest stunt, which saw 'The Problem Child' don a disguise in order to sneak into The Sphere.
Tensions have been running high between the UFC CEO and the former Disney channel star over recent years, with White previously stating that Paul was banned from all future events.
However, following the event in Las Vegas, Jake Paul revealed on his social media that he had actually snuck into the building in order to watch Sean O'Malley fight.
White was then asked his thoughts on Paul's antics during the latest post-event event presser for Dana White's Contender Series. He said:
"Listen, Oscar De La Hoya was there, okay? Let’s put it that way. Nobody's banned...Listen, that kid knows how to market and do his thing, and you know, all that good stuff, but yeah, no, Jake Paul's welcome to come to the UFC."
Check out Dana White's comments here (12:40):
#1. Paddy Pimblett breaks chicken wing eating record
Paddy Pimblett has smashed a record for eating the most chicken wings at a restaurant in his hometown of Liverpool.
'The Baddy' is known for his weight gain whilst outside of fight camps and regularly balloons up to over 200 pounds. Although this does often garner some criticism from fans, Pimblett has yet to let it affect him as he hasn't missed weight during his run in the promotion so far.
The Liverpudlian recently shared the video on his YouTube channel, which saw him attempt to break the record, standing at 36 chicken wings. That proved no issue for Pimblett, who proceeded to smash the record by putting away 47.
Watch the video here: