Dana White is responding to Ilia Topuria suggesting that UFC forced Max Holloway to sign a contract.
Current UFC BMF champion, Max Holloway (26-7, MMA), faced Justin Gaethje (25-5, MMA) at the historic UFC 300 in April of this year, winning by knockout.
Current UFC featherweight champion Topuria (15-0 MMA) has informed fans that his first title defense is now booked and that UFC has forced “Blessed” to accept the bout.
Ilia Topuria said the UFC was pressuring Holloway to accept the bout. Social media He says this.
“Looks like UFC forced him (Holloway) to say yes. El Matador is back. Congratulations to all UFC fans.”
This was Dana White's response to a number of questions at a recent press conference, one of which was whether Max Holloway was “forced to sign a contract” to fight “El Matador.” To which the UFC CEO responded:
“I don't think there's any need to force Max Holloway to fight.”
Former UFC featherweight champion Alexander Volkanovski (26-4 MMA) also spoke about the situation in an interview with Jose Youngs of MMA Fighting.
“Let's be realistic. I'm not forcing Max to fight. We all know that Max wants to fight him (Topuria) and I think he wanted to fight soon. There is sabotage. There is sabotage for sure. And I don't think it's Max's fault. I'm not trying to take sides, I'm just stating the facts. I have nothing against Ilia, but I'm not forcing Max on this. Let's be realistic.”
There has been no official announcement from Dana White or UFC yet, but Topuglia said Holloway was set to fight next.
Would you like to see Topuria vs. Holloway? Do you think the BMF champion can hand Topuria his first defeat inside the Octagon?
PENN Nation, share your thoughts in the comments!
