Ilia Topuria believes he is under Holloway’s skin after the intense final duel

15-0 superstar Ilia Topuria defends his featherweight world title against former king Max “Blessed” Holloway in just a few hours in the main event of UFC 308 in Abu Dhabi.

But as we countdown to the likely Fight of the Year contender, Topuria believes he is already 1-0 against the former champion when he took the reins at the ceremonial pre-fight weigh-ins.

“Let’s go, brother, let’s go,” Topuria said as the UFC cameras captured part of the exchange as Holloway stood silently: “I’m the best in the world, I’m the best in the world and you are there.” A hard night trying to beat myself.

“Trust me, I’m the best in the world and I worked my ass off… The victory is mine, I’m (still) going to be world champion, trust me.”

Speaking to TNT Sports after the final clash, Topuria revealed more of what was said, claiming that Holloway’s silence was evidence that he was “very, very nervous” ahead of Hawaii’s Game 10^Th Title fight.

“I told him that I’m the best fighter in the world and that I’ve worked my ass off and winning tomorrow night will be my only option… That was the conversation I had with him, but I don’t have an answer For his part, he seems to be very, very nervous and has a lot of problems.

“I don’t want him to compare me to anyone he’s played in the past (because) I’m different,” explained the 15-0 superstar, who is the slight betting favorite at about -250 heading into UFC 308.

“He calls himself a problem solver, but tomorrow night he’s going to have a problem called ‘El Matador’… He calls himself ‘The Bull’ and we all know what the Matador does to the bull and the same goes. “What will happen tomorrow night? I’ll be the first to knock him out, trust me.”

Topuria was joined by superstar soccer player Sergio Ramos at the ceremonial UFC 308 weigh-ins, with the UFC Europe camera crew capturing a brief exchange between the two.

“He doesn’t talk, does he? The other guy, right,” Ramos asked, “He seems to be scared already, nothing, he didn’t say anything.”

“I’m the best in the world and he knows it,” Topuria replied.

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