Is Ilia Topuria Ducking Max Holloway? 

Anyone saying Max doesn’t want to fight is automatically sus.

Ilya’s reaction to Max knocking out Justin is priceless. Bro looks shook and I don't blame him

Ilia thinks he's a way bigger star than he his...

We should've known that this guy was gonna act like a diva after getting the belt

The obsession with young guys wanting champ-champ status immediately instead of defending needs to stop. Dana needs to stop letting these guys hold up divisions.

The issue with Illa Tiporua is that he thinks he's already a hall of famer rich athlete guy with 10+ title defenses and one of mma goats if not the GOAT himself, That's why people don't like him.

Bro was shitting his pants

I don’t think Ilia scared but rather his ego likes being in control. No way Max says no behind the scenes.

i hope max out classes ilia for 5 rounds and makes him suffer. he needs humbling

Ilia was looking for volk to give the belt back after max knocked out

Ducking him more than Bisping did Yoel.

All these fighters want to immediately challenge for that second belt , can we get some defensives please? This is getting old

Ilia has got to be the most forgettable ufc champ right now, completely forgot this dude was the featherweight champ.

Defend your belt a few times before you get a chance to go chamo champ, double champ shots should be earned.

He's ducking harder than Michael Bisping ducked the top 5 when he was champ. To quote Yoel: " Dana, give me the fucking boy"

Short answer: yes Long answer: yeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeess

These kind of antics from some of the new champions elevate the legacy of someone like Izzy who not only captured the belt but put it on the line multiple times and fought like twice or thrice a year

I genuinely think the UFC is just telling both guys either one is ducking to make fake drama while they sort out logistics

He don't want to get that 10sec round 5 treatment lol 👇🥊

He saw Max starch Gaethje and immediately started ducking lol

After Max KOd Gaethje, Ilia said he wasn't nervous, he just didn't know the camera was on him... Simultaneously admitting he fakes macho for the cameras and that his expression was genuine.

No way we are even talking about ilia moving up…. He’s not Connor, no one wants another Connor… we want champs fighting. They are the best of the best we know that…..

The McGregor comparison is too generous. While McGregor did not defend the Featherweight title after winning it, he did fight 3 times in the next 11 months. It has already been 5 months and Ilia does not even have a fight SCHEDULED.

You guys should make a “Top 10 UFC champs fans didn’t like or didn’t care for” video. Of course it would be subjective to the creators but maybe like create a list of 20 past or current champs known to be not liked by fans whatever the reason may be and then let everyone vote on it in a poll which creates the top ten list. Just an idea, I love all your content! 👊🏾

I've always said I dislike the lack of a "champions schedule" clause I'm every contract. I don't think the champion should be able to pick ANYTHING about the fights they take. That's what it means to be a champion. Anyone, anywhere, anytime.

I don't recall anybody giving Connie any sh*t for not defending the FW belt after beating Aldo. He held on to that belt without defending it so he could fight for the LW belt

The ufc is definitely telling topuria that max is the reason they haven’t made the fight and vice versa when it’s the ufc that is preventing it from being made

Khabib always stressed the importance of getting good English skills. Illy can't communicate effectively with the fans when it mattered the most.

Another point to add was that right after Max’s win at 300, Ilia publicly stated he wants to fight Max for the BMF but not a single mention of the 145lbs belt..

Hi guys, I cannot see the “join” button on your page, could this be because I am in Ireland? I would love to watch/listen to the full podcast. (The “join” button shows up on the official Liverpool FC RU-vid channel for me which is why I’m confused it isn’t showing up on your guys’ channel)

Max wants to fight, Ilia wants to fight, and UFC has a card in mind. I don’t think anybody is ducking anybody here

The BMF title should be like the money in the bank briefcase. If you have it you should be allowed to cash in a title challenge at any time

Volk is the only person that can beat Max at 45 IMO

Max been trying fight DC for years. Dude fears nothing

They should make a rule that a champ must defend at least 3 times before they get the opportunity to become double champ. That way they’ll be incentive to defend their title more often

Defend the title or get stripped. The same goes for the other weight classes. It's really that simple.

you need to make a video on Jon Jones ducking The real Heavyweight champ Tom the Skyrim npc Aspinall

Illia said 😯🥺😢

I think I never seen this much of hate for a guy that speaks perfectly in the cage and is just not that good at trashtalking. You people are so lost with Ilia, he said from the start when Max won the BMF that he wanted that fight with both belts in game. Who was the one that said not to that? Not Ilia…How is Ilia going to be scared if he believes that fight is easier than Volk and did not deny any match until now and even going a weightclass up. I think Ilia has not sold a good narrative in USA but you guys are hating him so so much when you should just criticase him as a fighter, and as that his one of the best

I would guess both agreed to the fight, it's just the where and when between Dana and Ilia holding it up. Ilia wants it in Spain, and Dana probably wants it for November at MSG. Imagine Conor and Ilia on the two top fights on the MSG card. Big money.

GSP vs Silva is the biggest fight they never made. That and Silva not getting the LHW belt before Jones showed up. He would have beat everyone that had that belt baring maybe a few.

so everyone forgetting 0-3 vs Volk just because that Justin's fight?

I'm of the mindset that you're not a full champion without defending the belt. Just like how people would feel different about Strickland or Jamaal if they defended there's

i think whats happening is that the UFC is making this complicated and confusing on both sides. UFC probably wants to book max and ilia on the sphere but they also want to make the conor fight happen at the sphere. So they are purposefully delaying the confirmation on the ilia and max fight by blurring details until conor makes it clear that he will not fight.

5:54 Bruh this isn't a bad stylistic match up for Topuria if anything it's better for him. Max got outboxed by a midget Volk in the pocket my guy, what do you think Topuria will do? His style is getting in close range agains taller opponents and fighting in the pocket. Nobody outboxed Topuria in this division

I love how everyone thinks Max is going to look as good as he did against Justin when he has to cut that muscle and deplete himself to fight again at 145 😂 Topuria vs Max is going to be a lot closer then people think.

Illia doesn’t want you to fight I think it’s very clear.

He is definitely ducking him max doesn’t care about the belt as much as beating the best guys out there and he doesn’t move backwards he is ready to leave it all on the line and get knocked out… like Justin learned lmaoo

Anyone here after the news?

Ilia is spoiled and has be running without a doubt

Ilia is just gonna pull a Germain de Randamie and just never defend

what is this a cafe Nero product placement?? damn

Chael Sonnen seems to be the only one that understand what Ilia is doing with all the nonsense he speaks, "Ilia is tricking his opponents with his talking to underestimate him" and we see it is working perfectly, everytime he spits some yapping Volk and Max loose it and engage in X back and forth, when Ilia dont even manage his social media himself he has a crew that go and post anything to sell fights, Ilia have said he dont pay attention to social media and barely spend time himself on it, so he well accepted to be the hated villain and it is working every single mma fan is talking about this fight and is going to be the most anticipated and biggest fight of the year if Alex dont fight at heavyweigh.

Ilia is the most beautiful good looking skilled warrior in UFC.piece of art.appreciate the beauty guys

Love you guys, but how do you remember James Irvin and not Forest Griffin?

Topuria _"said"_ he wanted to move up-but does he, really? But wait, notwithstanding Connor, moves up in weight class without defending his title, at least once?

Ilia has a 0% chance of getting a crack at a lightweight title without defending FW

Max wanted to fight Khabib when Khabib was recognized to be the best, and Max acknowledged it, but was hot for the fight at the press conference-and Torpuria ain't no Khabib.

Honestly I think that english speakers dont like Topuria that much simply because they dont have access to much of his content/interviews. In the Spanish conmunity the guy is a hero. I dont think he is ducking Max, however, I do think that he is trying to have some vacations and enjoy the belt.

I don´t think Topuria is afraid of Holloway; but he thinks he is to big for him; which is freaking dumb.

Illia probably doesn't want to give Max the chance to be a double champ, especially when that's something Illia wants for himself.

Ufc pays their fighters awfully.. keeping that belt for as long as possible to allow yourself to exhaust all sponsor opportunities is quite a good business move.. as long as you dont look like your doing this deliberately.

I'm only part way through the video but y'all remember when ilia said he wants the bmf belt on the line? Maybe the UFC are hesitant and that could be causing the holdup

These fighters riding the accolades of other fights is annoying Illia riding Volks win and Jamal riding Izzy’s win

The term ducking has been so rarely used in mma until the past few years. New fans? Impatient kids? I dont get it. The fights that are supposed to happen, almost always happens.

Max is beloved. But that illia guy is something evil. He kinda scared me when he asked max to bring the same energy in the first 10 seconds

Neros, good choice of brew as the high streets go.

Everybody was shook and I think he was holding in excitement about a great performance rather than him being scared.

Max fought someone when his home land was burning down. He literally will fight anyone, anytime, anywhere. The guy been trying to fight DC for years. Ilia made a movie about himself getting the title that nobody watched and he hide after he seen max knock out Justin, he’s afraid to lose.

I don't think Ilia's particularly scared of Max (and his face after the knockout was just emphasising the moment). But I do think, like so many of these recent champs, he wants to drag out this belt, take the safe double champ fight instead of risking his belt with any competitive matchup.

The great escpae thumbnail 😂

1:35 that's impressive lil afro you got there 😅

Max would fight Ngannou even if he had the entire USMC behind him. No fear. No quit. Toughest there is. Even in defeat he’s still the toughest dude in the octagon.

Funny how he's trynna create the A side when having the belt makes him upper echelant as is,goes without saying he's trynna prove he deserves to be there by turning down fights.. gotta love psychology

“he’s not saying he doesn’t want to fight Max” ahhh yes he’s only saying he’d fight him if the BMF belt is on the line. Are you guys scared to call out how cowardly he’s looked since winning the belt ? dude is putting stipulations in a fight like a wwe match

men you have no idea, he's having a child in a few weeks he doesn't want to fight before octobre that's it.

Dude would be so smart fighting Max at either 145 or 155 and claiming to be a P4P king

The boys said every single option other than the OBVIOUS answer…… ilia doesn’t think he can knock out Max the chin is titanium

Volk getting knocked out as badly as he did by Islam, and then coming back so quickly with Topuria, he just wasn't the same guy. You could see that at the press conference, and in the first minute of the fight. A knockout can change a fighter, it can end a fighters career.

This is a joke right? The man put 15-0 before fighting volk but he’s not confident y’all are straight jokes

I love ilia’s fighting style, but he is absolutely ducking max. If you say max don’t wanna fight, then you’re just scared so bad that you’ll tell a lie nobody on earth would believe just to avoid the fight. Real disappointment as a “ champion “ so far.

Max is my favourite fighter but I don't think it's beyond the realms of possibility that he's partly responsible for this delay. His BMF fight was designed to "give him options". It has done that. Now he has to decide whether Ilia for FW title is his favourite option. It might not be. He's already held that belt for ages, so the reward isn't THAT great compared to the risks (Ilia is probably the favourite if they match up, and I think that's correct even though I much prefer Max). Max can now fight pretty much anyone under 170, and he now knows for sure that he has the skills, power and durability to be just as elite at 155 as he has been at 145. And he can surely negotiate higher pay than ever after delivering arguably the greatest moment in UFC history against Justin. I'm sure there's more going on behind the scenes than just Max saying "sign me up to fight Ilia right now no questions asked let's go".

Didn’t conor fight Diaz twice while featherweight champ? Obvs not featherweight bouts but he was still active leading up to the lightweight title fight and also had more viewers against Denis siever than Aldo had in his previous fight before the conor fight, conor was an inigma and can’t be recreated that’s why he got the lightweight shot without defending at featherweight….

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4:25 they may not say it’s a big deal but you will most definitely having people calling for him to relinquish the belt recent history shows fans will cry about it if it were the case

We cant say for 100% sure that Ilia is scared...but...what we can say for 100% sure is that Max will fight anyone.

I think the UFC was the one sending mixed signals to the fighters

Uh, Topuria KO'd the guy Holloway lost to 3 times. Holloway's likely having trouble getting back down to 145 after gaining the appropriate weight to move properly to 155.

Wasn’t Tiporua trying to undermine Volk before they’re fight saying that he was more excited to fight max after Volk or something like completely looking past Volk

Topuria is a young exciting fighter that has a really bright future ahead of him. The UFC did him a big solid by not making him fight gate keeper Max before fighting Volk. Now that he has the belt, he has to fight Max because of the insane 300 knockout and repaying the UFC. He was built up properly to become a champion, now he needs to act like a champion and fight the clear #1 contender.

Max is the BMF... If I could pick any 🏆 to fight for, that would be it! I just think there should be a BMF belt for the best strikers to compete for in every weight class

3 words. Max by KO

Looking at Ilia's face after max knocking out Justin. You can just tell he crapped himself. I could smell it through my tv. That's how bad he shit himself. He's always sweating when someone asks him about Max. He's 1000000000000% scared.

There no fucking way that Max is refusing a fight with Topuria especially when Max knocked out Gathje the way he did, Topuria looked concerned and he never had to fight Max to get to the champ like everyone else has had to do and if he want's to go for a second title he needs to defend the belt he just won a few times before he even gets that option. Champ champ status used to be hard to do and it was special but now people win a belt and want a shot at another weights title right away, how about totally dominating your division 1st before trying for another title

Topuria is so easy to hate... but he's so fun to use in Undisputed Forever. Dude feels OP.

Only way Topuria wins a belt at lightweight is if Arman and Islam both leave the division. That man was getting cracked by Jai Herbert

the thing about Connor getthing the double chance status without defending: he was the first person that Dana ever allowed to challenge for double champ status. it has more to do with the mainstream attention that Connor brought to the sport. Ilia did a lot to bring Spanish fans, but Connor made the sport much more global in way that you just can't do anymore. I don't think Connor deserved his double champ shot then based on the merits of the sport, so Ilia absolutely doesn't now

Probably best for illa the longer he waits because max is absolutely in a different prime right now imo. He’s in his physical prime, his body is best it’s ever looked, more powerful and faster. Less volume punches but he looks faster sharper and more powerful in my honest opinion.

I get it why Max deserves the fight but man I feel we need the rematch with Volk

If you're worried about style match-ups, you are scared homie Ilia is scared of the Blessed