Much has changed in the UFC‘s featherweight division over the past couple of years, but one constant remains to appear at UFC 308 this Saturday.
Gone as champ is Alexander Volkanovski, dethroned by fresh blood in the form of Ilia Topuria, a Georgian-Spaniard not short on confidence and never far from his temper boiling over. Feuds with Paddy Pimblett, Conor McGregor, and even a bar room altercation have boosted Topuria’s profile for better or for worse, but the bottom line is that, at a perfect 15-0, he’s backed up all of his talk.
Yet divisional mainstay and current “Baddest Motherf*cker” Max Holloway stands opposite Topuria in the main event at UFC 308, a polar opposite of sorts of “El Matador.” Holloway is soft-spoken. Respectful. Kind. He does his violence in the cage, and most of his talking there as well. His tendency to point to the middle of the octagon at the end of his fights, challenging opponents to take wins from him, has become legendary (and part of the storyline of UFC 308, in fact). He’s adopted Vegas and Canada as extra islands of Hawaii and won fans globally – and he has a chance to win back his own crown on Saturday and become a double-champ of a different kind.
Those two contrasting personalities and other main card players will be on hand for UFC 308’s pre-fight press conference on Thursday. With the event taking place in Abu Dhabi, that presser is bright and early at 8:30AM ET, 5:30AM PT. You can catch the live stream above.
