Undefeated UFC featherweight champion Ilia Topuria defends his title for the first time against former champion Max Holloway in the main event of UFC 308 at the Etihad Arena in Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates.

Topuria (15-0) won the belt in February with a second-round knockout of Alexander Volkanovski. Topuria is No. 3 in the ESPN men’s pound-for-pound rankings.

The 10th-ranked Holloway (26-7), who reigned from June 2017 to December 2019, has won three straight fights, most recently a knockout of Justin Gaethje at 4:59 of the fifth round in their April lightweight bout.

Brett Okamoto, Andreas Hale, Jeff Wagenheim and Dre Waters break down all the action from UFC 308.

Here’s how to watch the fights

Watch the pay-per-view and prelims on ESPN+: Get ESPN+ here.

There is also FightCenter, which provides live updates for every UFC card.

UFC 308 fight card

ESPN+ PPV, 2 p.m. ET
Featherweight Championship: Ilia Topuria (c) vs. Max Holloway
Middleweight: Robert Whittaker vs. Khamzat Chimaev
Light heavyweight: Magomed Ankalaev vs. Aleksandar Rakic
Featherweight: Lerone Murphy vs. Dan Ige
Middleweight: Shara Magomedov vs. Armen Petrosyan
ESPN+, 10 a.m. ET
Light heavyweight: Ibo Aslan vs. Rafael Cerqueira
Welterweight: Geoff Neal vs. Rafael Dos Anjos
Lightweight: Mateusz Rebecki vs. Myktybek Orolbai
Middleweight: Abus Magomedov vs. Brunno Ferreira
Heavyweight: Kennedy Nzechukwu vs. Chris Barnett
Men’s Bantamweight: Farid Basharat vs. Victor Hugo
Middleweight: Ismail Naurdiev vs. Bruno Silva
Welterweight: Rinat Fakhretdinov vs. Carlos Leal
(c) = defending champions

A traveling MMA fighter’s toughest opponent abroad? Sleep

For much of the world, being able to fully function at work without a good night’s sleep represents a significant obstacle. Fortunately, most people don’t have to worry about getting hit in the face. However, for fighters operating without adequate sleep, the margin of error in their field is microscopic and can mean the difference between winning and waking up on the canvas. Few people handle these sub-optimal travel situations as well as Max Holloway.

“I live in the middle of the ocean,” Holloway said in an interview with the UFC’s Megan Olivi as he prepared for his third contest in the United Arab Emirates. “No matter which way I go, it’s a long way.”

There is no such thing as a home game for Holloway. He hasn’t fought in Hawaii since his fourth professional fight in 2011. Since then, the current BMF champion has fought 29 professional fights in eight time zones in the UFC.

Read the story.

UFC 308 fight rankings: Is there a top match between Topuria and Holloway?

The selling point for the featherweight championship fight between Ilia Topuria and Max Holloway may boil down to recent events. It can start and end in early 2024. One fight per fight – the youngest for each of them – is all we need to know to be sold in Saturday’s matchup in Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates.

For Topuria, that compelling fight came in February, when he wrested the belt with a knockout that abruptly ended Alexander Volkanovski’s four-year reign. As for Holloway, his tough sell came two months later when he pulled off perhaps the greatest knockout in MMA history, sending Justin Gaethje face-first to the canvas with just one second left in the fifth round of violence.

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UFC 308 first look: Big questions about Topuria-Holloway, Chimaev’s return and more

Ilia Topuria seized the moment at UFC 298 when he took on one of the featherweight GOATs, Alexander Volkanovski. Topuria dethroned Volkanovski in February to become the 145-pound champion. Eight months later, Topuria will now face arguably the other GOAT in the featherweight division as Max Holloway looks to regain his title.

Andreas Hale, Brett Okamoto and Jeff Wagenheim offer their initial thoughts, analysis and predictions for UFC 308.

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The best active MMA knockout artists of all weight classes

Maybe we should put a little more on the line when Holloway takes on Topuria on October 26th. In addition to the UFC Featherweight Championship, how about we break a tie and declare the winner the best knockout artist at 145 pounds? Of course, that can only be the case if the guy walking out of the cage with the belt secured victory by knockout. And if it succeeds, it would be a significant achievement because Topuria is undefeated and Holloway has never been knocked out in 33 professional fights.

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2024 MMA Midyear Awards: Unanimous Winners, Rare Entries and Epic Knockouts

There will never be a consensus on the “biggest knockout in UFC history,” but Holloway’s knockout of Justin Gaethje at UFC 300 in April might be the popular choice. Standing in the middle of the octagon in the final seconds of a five-round fight, he was clearly winning and sleeping Gaethje – it was just Holloway. It defined Holloway as a fighter and a person. The fact that it happened in a BMF title fight in a weight class couldn’t have been more perfect.

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