"There's a reason they didn't give me Ilia" - Max Holloway makes bold prediction for UFC 298 headliner between Alexander Volkanovski and Ilia Topuria
Max Holloway recently shared his two cents on the Alexander Volkanovski vs. Ilia Topuria title fight at UFC 298 this weekend. The highly anticipated pay-per-view event takes place at the Honda Center in Anaheim, California.
Volkanovski is widely regarded as one of the greatest featherweight champions in UFC history and has a professional record of 26-3. 'The Great' notably defeated Holloway at UFC 245 in December 2019 to win the featherweight title and has defended it successfully five times.
Volkanovski and Holloway fought two more times, with the Australian getting his hand raised on both occasions. Nevertheless, there's no bad blood between the two iconic featherweights, and 'Blessed' recently predicted Volkanovski would finish Topuria in their main event fight at UFC 298.
During a recent UFC 300 Q&A session, Holloway was asked about his chances against the Georgian-Spanish fighter in a potential fight and his prediction for this weekend's headliner. He replied:
"Brother... There's a reason they didn't give me Ilia. They wanted him to make it to this fight... Volk man. Volk is hearing you guys chatter. Volk's last fight - getting finished, whatever. He's hearing the 'Old Man' talk. The guy really has the dog in him; you guys are going to find out tomorrow. I think he finishes Ilia within four or five [rounds]."
Renato Moicano on Ilia Topuria's confidence fading away as UFC 298 title fight comes closer
In the build-up to his UFC 298 title shot against Alexander Volkanovski, Ilia Topuria appeared to have taken a page out of the Conor McGregor trash-talking playbook. Over the past few weeks, 'El Matador' has taken several shots at Volkanovski and has appeared supremely confident of becoming the new 145-pound king.
During the recent UFC 298 press conference, Topuria also tried to snatch the belt away from Volkanovski in an animated fashion, much like McGregor did before his legendary featherweight title fight against Jose Aldo in 2015.
While Topuria kept his schtick up for the most part, he surprisingly admitted that he respected Volkanovski as a fighter when they came face to face after the presser. He said:
"I respect you as a person [and] as a professional. I'm just fighting for my dreams."
Reacting to Topuria's sudden change of tone, Renato Moicano shared his thoughts on 'El Matador' potentially losing confidence as the fight comes closer. In a recent YouTube video, he said:
"I saw a little bit of a crack in Topuria's confidence... We saw at the end when they put them together to do the face-offs. Man, McGregor would never say that. Even if McGregor is playing a character, he would never... Maybe Topuria is not that confident anymore when the fight is only one day [away]."
Catch Renato Moicano's comments below (4:25):