Ilia Topuria will defend his featherweight title for the first time against former 145-pound kingpin Max ‘Blessed’ Holloway in the UFC 308 main event on Oct. 26 at Etihad Arena in Abu Dhabi.

The 27-year-old Topuria (15-0 MMA, 7-0 UFC) won the belt by scoring a second-round knockout win over Alexander Volkanovski, who had been the champion since December of 2019, in the UFC 298 headliner at Honda Center in Anaheim, CA.

Holloway (26-7 MMA, 22-7 UFC) is off one of the best performances of his career, defeating Justin Gaethje at UFC 300 to win the BMF belt with a walk-off knockout with merely one second remaining in their five-round battle.

DraftKings opened Topuria as a -192 ‘chalk’ on Aug. 6. As of today, the champion was a -180 favorite, leaving Holloway as a +150 underdog.

BetRivers opened Topuria as a -180 favorite on Aug. 3, but that number has gone up to -215. Holloway is +170 on the comeback.

Topuria’s rise to stardom has been fast and violent. In his seven UFC contests, he has five finishes and four KO victories. He even went up to lightweight for one of his seven wins, beating Jai Herbert via second-round KO.

Topuria has bagged three Performance of the Night bonuses and one Fight of the Night bonus in his last four outings. On Dec. 10 of 2022, he handed Bryce ‘Thug Nasty’ Mitchell his first career loss via second-round submission (arm-triangle choke).

Topuria has finished 13 of his 15 career opponents. He has eight career wins by submission and five by KO.

The 32-year-old Holloway has won three consecutive fights and five of his last six, including victories over Calvin Kattar, Yair Rodriguez, Arnold Allen, The Korean Zombie and Gaethje, the former interim lightweight champion. He’s won Fight of the Night honors in four of his last six scraps, and the Hawaiian also snagged a POTN bonus in his win over Gaethje.

With Dana White upping the bonus money from $50,000 to $300,000 at UFC 300, ‘Blessed’ took home an extra $600,000 after his fight with Gaethje earned FOTN on top of his performance bonus. Like Topuria’s win over Herbert, Max’s win over Gaethje came at 155 pounds.

Holloway is tied for the sixth-most FOTN bonuses in UFC history with seven. In UFC featherweight history, he owns the most career wins (20), the most KO wins (9), the most finishes (11) and the longest winning streak (13).

Holloway has 12 career wins by KO, 12 via decision and two by submission. He’s only been finished once in his career. That came in his UFC debut at UFC 143 when he was submitted by Dustin Poirier via arm triangle choke at the 3:23 mark of the opening frame.

Thoughts: I’m not looking to fade Topuria or Holloway. I was in Jacksonville for Topuria’s masterful performance against Josh Emmett when he beat the veteran brawler to a pulp over the course of 25 minutes. He’s looked absolutely spectacular in his three most recent wins over Mitchell, Emmett and Volkanovski. Likewise, Holloway has been brilliant in his KO wins over TKZ and Gaethje. This is going to be a banger! I lean Holloway at the underdog odds, but I’m going to be patient and hope those odds get more generous in the coming weeks. 

In the co-main event, former middleweight kingpin Robert ‘The Reaper’ Whittaker (26-7 MMA, 17-5 UFC) will face Khamzat ‘Borz’ Chimaev. This is a rebooking of what was supposed to be the UFC Saudia Arabia main event.

Whittaker-Chimaev had to be scratched when Chimaev fell ill from a base case of food poisoning. Instead, Whittaker accepted a late replacement and blasted Ikram Aliskerov, who had previously only lost once in his career (to Chimaev), via first-round KO.

The 30-year-old Chimaev (13-0 MMA, 7-0 UFC) has only fought once in the last 23 months, beating former welterweight champion Kamaru Usman by majority decision (29-27, 29-27, 28-28) in a middleweight contest. Usman took the fight on less than two weeks of notice and was making his 185-pound debut.

FanDuel opened Chimaev as a -230 ‘chalk’ on Aug. 5. As of today, that number has moved to -210, leaving Whittaker as a +162 underdog.

DraftKings has Chimaev as a -180 favorite, with Whittaker as a +150 underdog.

Thoughts: Due to his inactivity, Chimaev suddenly has some doubters. There was the failed weight cut ahead of UFC 279, the hand injury in his close win over Usman and his withdrawal from the UFC Saudi Arabia card. Nevertheless, if I see a healthy and determined Chimaev come fight week, I can’t bet against him. Remember, he’s still undefeated. With that said, Whittaker will be the toughest challenge of his career. If Whittaker can stop Chimaev’s takedowns and make this a stand-up fight, he might have the upper hand. But that’s an extremely tall task. For now, I don’t have an opinion either way.

In a heavyweight rematch on the UFC 308 main card, second-ranked Ciryl Gane (12-2 MMA, 9-2 UFC) will take on third-ranked Alexander Volkov. The 34-year-old Gane beat Volkov by unanimous decision (50-45, 50-45, 49-46) in a five-round bout on June 26 of 2021.

Gane bounced back from his loss to Jon ‘Bones’ Jones at UFC 285 to beat Serghei Spivac via second-round KO at UFC Paris on Sept. 2 of last year.

Since losing to Tom Aspinall in March of 2022, the 35-year-old Volkov (38-10 MMA, 12-4 UFC) has ripped off four straight wins, including a dominant UD win over Sergei Pavlovich at UFC Saudi Arabia in June.

BetRivers opened Gane as a -230 ‘chalk’ on Aug. 3. That number has slightly moved up to -235, with Volkov as a +180 underdog.

In a 205-pound battle, second-ranked Magomed Ankalaev will face fifth-ranked Aleksandar Rakic. BetRivers has Ankalaev installed as a -295 favorite, with Rakic as a +225 underdog.