Topuria to defend featherweight title against Holloway in main event of UFC 308

Ilia Topuria celebrates after defeating Bryce Mitchell in a UFC 282 mixed martial arts featherweight bout Saturday, Dec. 10, 2022, in Las Vegas. (John Locher/AP)

The card for UFC 308 is starting to take shape, with four fights being added for Fight Island in Abu Dhabi.

UFC president Dana White announced that Max Holloway will face featherweight champion Ilia Topuria for the title in the main event, while the co-main event will feature Robert Whittaker vs. Khamzat Chimaev.

It was recently reported earlier this week that a verbal agreement between Holloway and Topuria was in place.

Topuria is undefeated in mixed martial arts and won the title in his seventh UFC appearance in February when he knocked out Alexander Volkanovski in the main event of UFC 298.

Holloway is coming off an epic last-second knockout win over Justin Gaethje to win the organization’s symbolic BMF Title in a featured lightweight matchup at UFC 300. The 32-year-old former featherweight champion is 0-3 in his last three undisputed title fights, all of which were against Volkanovski, who is the lone fighter to defeat Holloway at 145 pounds in the past decade. Holloway initially won an interim featherweight title by beating Anthony Pettis; he later unified it when he stopped Jose Aldo.

White also announced two additional fights with Ciryl Gane going up against Alexander Volkov while Magomed Ankalaev will take on Aleksandar Rakić.

UFC 308 lineup previously had Rinat Fakhretdinov vs. Nursulton Ruziboev, Dan Ige vs. Lerone Murphy and Kennedy Nzechukwu vs. Marcos Rogerio.

The event is scheduled to take place in Abu Dhabi on Oct. 26.

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