Ilya Topria believes there are more deserving candidates for the featherweight title even if Max Holloway doesn’t put the BMF title on the line.
Holloway won the BMF title with a fifth-round knockout of Justin Gaethje at UFC 300 last month. Shortly after, Topuria approached Holloway and offered him a featherweight title shot in exchange for the opportunity to win the BMF belt. “Blessed” has not yet responded to Pria’s call, dismissing it as “a message from an angry girlfriend.”
Topuria believes it’s unfair for Holloway to get a chance to win the featherweight title without putting the BMF title on the line. According to Topuria, Holloway is hesitant to fight for the featherweight title because he wants to remain the BMF champion even if he loses, even if he loses.
“You’re the BMF champion. You have a chance to win the title, you have a chance to fight for the title,” Topuria said on Webpositor’s podcast. “What are you going to do? Are you going to fight or not fight? And he said, “Sign the contract,” and this and that. Where are you? Where are you? Enter the belt into the match. What I said is if he doesn’t put the BMF belt on the line, I’m not going to fight him.and
[Holloway] It was like no way a real BMF could claim a title. I want you to come and put this belt on the table, but you don’t want to put your own belt? In other words, I want to continue playing BMF even if I lose. How does this work? I mean, which BMF are you?
Topuria claims Holloway’s BMF strap is the only thing linking the former champion to the 145-pound title picture. Without that, Topria would rather fight Alexander Volkanovski, who was dethroned by knockout at UFC 298 in February, or featherweight contender Brian Ortega. Topria pointed out that “T-City,” who is coming off a submission win over Yair Rodriguez, was a much bigger threat to Volkanovski in the UFC 266 title fight than Holloway was in the entire trilogy.
“if [the BMF belt] “I’m going to fight Brian Ortega before that, and he was a lot closer to finishing Volkanovski in one fight than Max,” Topuria said. He did it with three. [Ortega] He always sticks his head in there and fights. He won his last battle. He’s had some good wins. ”
