Topuria to face Holloway and Chimaev returns as UFC 308 card confirmed

Ilya Topuria will make the first defence of his featherweight title at UFC 308 against former champion Max Holloway, following CEO Dana White’s announcement of the event’s card.

The 15-0 champion is on a seven-straight UFC win streak after defeating a string of contenders including Bryce Mitchell, Jai Herbert, Ryan Hall, Damon Jackson, Josh Emmett and Youssef Zalal.

He began his career in the featherweight division before shifting to bantamweight in 2018 and returning to featherweight a year later.

Topuria, who knocked out long-time champion Alexander Volkanovski back in February to claim the belt, is only the second fighter since Holloway to be champion.

Holloway surrendered the title to Volkanovski back in 2019.

He had taken the strap from Brazilian legend Jose Aldo. Aldo was the inaugural champion of the class, and won back the title after briefly surrendering it to Conor McGregor.

The Hawaiian veteran brings a 26-7 record to the event, with Volkanovski accounting for his three most-recent defeats. In April, Holloway flattened Justin Gaethje in a last-minute knockout which was the latest result in UFC history.

The event is set for October 26, at Abu Dhabi’s Fight Island and will also feature the return of Khamzat Chimaev.

The Russian has only fought once since September 2022, a majority decision win over Kamaru Usman last October, due to a combination of injury and illness.

Now he will return to the Octagon to face New Zealand’s Robert Whittaker.

The pair had been due to face off in June, but illness forced Chimaev to drop out, with Whittaker going on to knock out another Russian, Ikram Aliskerov.

Other highlights of a deep card include the bout between former interim heavyweight champion Ciryl Gane and Alexander Volkov in a rematch of their 2021 bout (won by Gane in a unanimous decision).

Russian Magomed Ankalaev will also meet Austria’s Aleksandar Rakic in the light-heavyweight division.