Ilia Topuria admits surprise at Max Holloway's stance at UFC 308: 'I had to change the game plan'

Featherweight Champion Ilia Topuria was one of the winners of the bonus UFC 308 / Reproduction Instagram UFC

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On the eve of UFC 308, held last Saturday (26), the featherweight champion (up to 65,7kg) promised he would walk to the center of the octagon, would point to the ground and invite Max Holloway for an exchange of punches. Although the Georgian kept his promise, Holloway did not accept the invitation, which surprised the champion.

At the press conference after the event, Topuria expressed his surprise when he realized that the Hawaiian had deviated from his usual style and had not gone on the attack when he was invited to the center of the octagon. This forced him to rethink his strategy during the fight.

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“That surprised me, that I pointed to the ground and he didn’t stop in the middle of the Octagon. He started this nonsense like when he challenged me, he said, ‘I’m the bull and ‘El Matador’ is running after me.’ You never see a bull do that. That surprised me a little bit, so I had to change the game plan a little bit. But at the end of the day, I got the knockout,” Topuria said.

Aim for the center of the octagon

The gesture of pointing to the ground in the middle of the octagon, popularized by Max Holloway, means inviting the opponent to an exchange of punches, where anyone can be knocked out at any moment, just like the Hawaiian did with Justin gaethje in the last second of the fight in UFC 300 and won the 'BMF' champion title.