Ilia Topuria Just Became The First Fighter To Ever Knock Out Max Holloway

God dammit. Between the Yankees last night, the Robert Whittaker loss earlier today, and this Max Holloway knockout - it's been a rough 24 hours for my favorites. This one hurt so extremely bad, though, seeing Holloway finished like that for the first time in his UFC career. Ilia Topuria just has the touch of death right now. It's not a matter of if, it's a matter of when he knocks you out - even if you've never been knocked out before. 

Holloway was doing so well, working his jab, keeping distance with oblique kicks....he won the first round and the second was razor thin! You can only put off the inevitable for so long, though. I don't think we've seen power like this in the featherweight division since Conor McGregor, and after finishing Alexander Volkanovski and Max Holloway like he did this year, Topuria now has a real case for Best Fighter of 2024. I'd still probably give it to Poatan but Ilia has an argument.

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I assume a rematch with Volkanovski is on deck for Topuria, and Diego Lopes may be the next man up after that, but even as a hater it's hard to imagine the title leaving his waist any time soon. 

Chris Unger. Getty Images.

I wouldn't be surprised if McGregor formally calls him out after this, either. Not that he'd ever be able to make 145lbs again, but he surely sees the potential of a superfight with Topuria now, no matter the weight. Ilia's got Sergio Ramos coming to his fights for Christ's sake.