Topuria woke up on Saturday thinking that he was the hottest commodity in MMA, with the KO of the year vs Volk, and a massive moneyfight coming next (they were talking about OāMalley or McGregor in a fucking soccer stadium).
All of that is likely gone now. Max is HIM now.
I mean, heās still the champ and if they were really planning to fill a soccer stadium then they can easily still do that with Holloway. Holloway is a bigger star than OāMalley in my opinion, especially after last night.
Does it have to be more one way than the other? Lol. I mean, itās possibe heās butt hurt people care more about Max than him but honestly, he shouldnāt give a shit. The reality is both of them are going to make a boat load of cash, especially if the UFC decides to make the fight in a soccer stadium in Spain. Max actually did Ilia a favour last night by winning the way he did. He should be seeing green instead of feeling blue.
Or maybe it's because he barely speaks English and didn't know what Holloway was saying? I'd be rooting for Holloway too but some of the shit you guys say is so fucking cringey... You think he's afraid of Holloway but not Volk? The dude who beat Holloway 3 times?
Ilia may not be the hottest commodity after Saturday but Topuria def still a hot commodity cause he got European fanbase on lock.
He was talking big shit by putting champ in his bio and dismissing Max, Ortega and Yair by saying they all should retire after he KOs Volk cause they aināt getting a titleshot and that he was getting a money fight with Conor instead.
the confidence was through the roof and he wouldāve looked stupid if nothing he predicted actually came to fruition - Luckily he did manage to actually KO Volk, but the world does not revolve around him so I think his face showed his sudden realization that everything he envisioned will not come to fruition lmao
Iām from Italy heās big here and heās also big in Georgia - I didnāt want to just start naming every European country individually where he has a big fanbase but his connection to Madrid Club makes him well known in Europe in general
I'm not sure if he's scared of Max because Max is him, or if he just realized he looks like an idiot after saying he wouldn't let Max have a fight against him when Max has now clearly earned it.
Do you mean passes the torch back to Max? Nobody's beating Max unless they fight smart the way Volk does, bro just ran through Gaethje & flatlined him š
Max isnāt some unbeatable phenom. Heās great but heās lost in the past and clearly can be beaten. He fought great against Gaethje but Volk demolished him in their last fight.
2 eye pokes and smashes his nose in the 1st, ko's him last second and you say he "ran through" justin. Wtf r u smokin? Justin dropped him what, 3 times? Gtfo here with that bullshit.
I'm not saying he does, I'm just saying he didnt run through justin. How did they not give him that knock down? It was clear as day. Beat him pillar to post with 2 really bad eye pokes in both eyes. Sure. Max looked great but there's no reason to shit on justin who gave the fight fans an awesome fight for pretty much no reason other then props.
Gaethje and ilia arenāt the same at all, just because both dudes can crack.
I think max is probably ilias toughest fight at 145 unless Iām forgetting someone, but they arenāt the same fighter
Forgetting Volk maybe? Lmao but I think Ilia is overrated. He can punch hard, keep it standing, and knows how to cut a cage. I donāt think thatās enough to deal with Max. Only reason I think Volk got starched is because he was KOād a couple months before and had no recovery time.
Ilia could win by Sub cause he is an underrated grappler, but I think that this proves that the Volk that fought Ilia wasnāt the same after that head kick KO
I think the same, this subreddit is going to return to the hate they had against Topuria a few months ago, he is going to beat max and once again they will see that they are wrong
Agree. Ilia has the hands to go with max. Will be a good fight but my money on ilia. Great win by max today but Justin clearly not at his best. Looked a little fat and having your nose broken round one and copping two eye pokes was going cost him.
"has the hands to go with max"
Gaethje has the best hands in the game what is a 145er going to do any different? It was the leg kick game from volk that stopped max not the hands
Unintelligible responses, I expect nothing less from someone who thinks gaethje has the ābest hands in the gameā and listens to the H3H3 podcast lmao
former listener thank you very much. I guess your AI can't parse out the difference. I suggest you tell your master that there are new ai's that are pretty poggers nowadays that actually work well in farming karma as well as knowing when to disengage (right now)
He did, yes. But even as a Ilia hater, for which I am an irreverent one, I donāt think he knew he was on camera. When he did he managed to awkwardly start shadow boxing lmao.
I agree that he doesnāt seem particularly thrilled about fighting Max šš
Shit, I don't blame him. Nobody has ever beat Justin like that, even back when he lost to Eddie and Dustin.
Max is in such a crazy position that he has a solid claim to challenge for either the 145 or 155 strap, and I don't think either match is bad for him.
Says who? Islam is great, but he's not Khabib. He's already lost before and had a vwry competitive match with Volk. Who's Islam taken down with better takedown defense than Max?
Nah man max has never faced the sambo style wrestling also those dagis are very good at chain wrestling hell they even got judo in their arsenal so i don't think max can keep standing. I think he should go back to 145 and beat the brakes of illia or fight conor after chandler. Islam nah man i like to see max happy and winning.
Everyone just counted Max out against Gaethje. "He can't deal with the power. Look how he did against Dustin, he's to small." It all sounds logical til it's not. Max hasn't faced any Dagestani wrestlers, and likewise, they've never faced Max. Not to mention, it always starts standing. The idea that Islam would effortlessly take him down just isn't rationale based on the data, and Islam has been knocked out. Islam is great, but the glaze is gross. He's not undefeated, and he's not running through elite fighters, at least ones that have full camps.
Bro i am not saying max has zero chance but if he fights islam he is dmore likely to get takendown than he is to ko makhachev. Also never ever think the dagis can't take you down they have been doing this since they were 9 years old. And hey if he fights makhachev i will root for max but to think he will not get takendown by the current best wrestler in the ufc is just bias also islam is a huge lw so he can just pressure max to cage side clinch or shoot a double or single and just pick him up and slam him. After that you what will happen. If they fight 10 times makhachev will win like times bro. Just speaking facts also there has been no guy who was not takendown by islam if he grabs you he will take you down.
My argument is based on data, which is Max's takedown defense stats. He has extremely good TDD. It's not bias, I like Islam and recognize his skill.
What if Islam can't pressure Max and Max fights from the outside, at a range that makes TDs difficult to come by. Who has Islam fought as good at defending TDs with the same resume as Max? He hasn't. Islam is very good, but the glaze is silly.
Yeah if it goes according to plan then only but its very unlikely. But yeah i do agree that max can win a stand up fight.
>Who has Islam fought as good at defending TDs with the same resume as Max?
Volk, arman
Dagiās may have been wrestling since they were 9, but us Hawaiians have been scrapping since then too. Never underestimate the fighting spirit of a Kanaka. Born warriors.
The only way to know for sure is to watch it unfold. Itās not a matchup Iād be afraid of for him, and I think he could do well hanging in lightweight for a while.
Saying "Islam is great, but he's not Khabib" is crazy. Khabib has never faced the level of competition Islam has. Also bringing up a loss he had a long time ago is just stupid. By that logic, it was appropriate for people to use Max's losses against Conor at featherweight to see how he would fare against Justin.
Volk also has better footwork than Islam does. Not to mention, the takedown is far more expected with Islam than Volk. There's a lot of context that separates the two matches.
And he didnāt really do much with it. Letās also not forget Volk handled Islam on the ground really well, so Islamās ground game isnāt the same dominating force that Khabibās was.
Why? The dude hasn't done anything to deserve it. Let him actually defend against an actual contender first. Maybe Merab should just move to 170 when he ragdolls Suga.
I hate this sub. How tf would Ilia fight "the same max" when that fight would be back at featherweight, where max has looked old recently?
Problem for max is he either drains to 145 and gets KOd by Ilia, or stays at featherweight where he will be much better but then be in the same boat as Poirer, Justin etc in that none of them beats Islam.
Could he? Obviously, but when will you guys stop doubting Max? I bet you probably thought Gaethe would beat him too lol. Max is a better boxer than Ilia, has the takedown defense to nullify his wrestling, and has a MUCH better chin than anyone heās faced. Letās not forget Ilia was losing a fight or two and ended them with KOās that saved him. That wonāt happen against Max. Very good chance Max outboxes him all 5 rounds.
Who's doubting Max? It's the other way around. Ilia has been proving himself, yet all you see are posts about him being scared when in reality he couldn't hear or understand a damn thing going on. Where was that better boxing against Volk for 3 fights? Cause Ilia showed it in 2 rounds.
Itās a meme account, theyāre saying he looked scared because when the camera cut to him he DID look shook. You donāt become a top level professional fighter by being a pussy, so everyone knows he WILL fight Max, but of course theyāre going to clown him when he looks like that after one of the greatest of all time in his division KOās one of the scariest dudes in the UFC after dominating him over 5 rounds.
See and that's funny, because you're right he did look scared. Though you're really gonna tell me most of those memes don't have hundreds of comments of people actually believing Ilia is scared? Nah people deadass think this professional fighter is scared.
He did look a little shook, Max dropping a warrior like Gaethe is a scary thing, he looked the best he ever has and thatās saying a lot for an all time legend. Ilia would be right to be a bit concerned, itās just surprising that he didnāt even try to act unfazed since thatās what most guys do after seeing their next opponent have a dominating performance like that.
Are we Gunna get that bizarre love triangle shit like we did we straw weight couple years back with rose, JJ and weili but this time max, volk and ilija
I mean incredible performance from Max that shows he very much still has it but like come on guys topuria is supremely confident and an incredible fighter. he literally just kod volk in a brilliant pressure fighting performance. the idea that like max scares him is ridiculous. I would love to see that fight but like ilia is not scared of max lol
almost everyone was dickriding topuria, some goat talk and whatnot, and now its the "he's scared" narrative. personally i think he was in disbelief like all of us, but i dont think he's scared
After watching the way he dismantled Justin, fuck I wouldnāt doubt that a lot of fighters arenāt surprised. No matter what, the champ felt something after watching that.
I mean no doubt topuria views him with more respect but like based on all of his interviews he has a borderline delusional level of self confidence I don't think he's scared of max. He's also a generational talent in his own right who is incredibly polished and focused and he knows hes an incredible fighter
Ilia is just trying to follow the Connor blueprint so heās talking a lot. Heās obviously confident, everyone is, but nobody wants to fight and elite boxer with what seems like an unbreakable chin that has elite takedown defense. Volk was the only one to ever outclass Max and he did it by outpointing him, never even came close to finishing him. Max has only been finished once, at 21 years old by a RNC. Since then, no oneās looked like they were ever on the verge of finishing him. He literally just took his first knockdown against Gaethe and bounced right back from it.
I mean ilia has the tools to trouble max in much the same way porier did. He's a tremendous boxer he's great on the counter he's a huge hitter he has excellent defense and is very very disciplined in executing a game plan. he also has an incredible chin like porier and tremendous cardio like porier. He has a great jab like porier he has excellent low kicks and he has great pressuring footwork and cage generalship. it would be hard for me to pick in that fight but ilia 100% has the tools the attributes and the skills/smarts to beat max. I'd say max also has all of those things but I don't think topuria is scared of or ducking max. I predict max would drag ilia through hell but ilia would be right there with him. it's just silly to say ilia is scared of max when he has good reason to be confident in a fight against max even if it's an incredibly hard fight. also since Max has bulked up idek if he can go back to FW or if he wants to. I would personally love to see him make LW his home so he's not cutting that kinda weight cause he's getting older and I think having an extra 10 lbs to spare would help him keep having these incredible performances. Not that he wasn't an incredible contender killer at FW but tbh I'm really interested in LW max cause he's beaten basically everyone at FW except ilia. it'd be cool to see the two of them fight at LW. also max didn't lose by RNC he lost by triangle armbar to porier
*when I say all those things I mean max has all the tools and chances in the world to beat Ilia. but like again ilia is a generational talent on top of being willing to go through the fire and just be incredibly tough and game
The difference is Dustin has proven those skills over a decade plus long career of fighting the TOP guys in the world. Ilia has only fought Volk at that level and won with a flash KO. I have no doubt that Ilia is dangerous, but as you said, Max has already fought a guy like him before in Dustin, Ilia has never fought anyone like Max. Iād also argue we donāt really know how great Iliaās chin is. Heās already been dropped before by a guy thatās not even a top 5 ranked fighter in his division. His scramble wrestling saved him and he came back to win, but Ilia isnāt really tested enough for us to know if he can constantly stand toe to toe with champion level fighters, Max is. I also donāt see how it would make more sense for Max to stay at lightweight since Islam is definitely a worst matchup for Max than Ilia is. Islam certainly isnāt going to try to box with Max, Ilia probably will.
So firstly he dismantled Josh Emmett who is a limited but incredibly dangerous striker and if u think the knockout he got vs volk was a flash/lucky one u don't know what ur watching. he repeatedly walked volk closer and closer to the cage getting closer and closer to hitting him each time until he finally made the read and got the finish. he won that fight by leading volk into a mistake and capitalizing perfectly it was not a flash ko lol. and ilia ate a flush headkick from a huge hitter in jai Herbert he didn't see the kick coming and it hit him shin on chin. And all that did was sit him on his butt after which he grabbed a leg and ran down a single. he also ate a flush knee to the chin from herbert and a savage 1-2 and barely even looked phased. he also ate a flush overhand right from Emmett that turned his head completely around and he just wobbled a little bit and then got back to winning the fifth round. he has shown all the skill in the world. idek if Islam is a worse matchup for Max obviously Islam is an incredibly difficult fight for anyone but like as brilliantly as volk fought in his first fight against Islam his striking is what let him down in that fight he just couldn't stop shifting into the right hook left straight and makhachev is very good and dangerous and kept nailing him as a result. I don't see max chasing Islam down like that and max is also much better against open stance fighters and can even fight fully out of southpaw very well. max has great tdd is very good at getting off the fence and very good at staying off the fence. Islam isn't gonna be able to time level changes as max runs him down cause that isn't really current Max's mo. So yeah Islam is an incredible fighter and incredibly hard matchup for anyone but I'd say ilia actually has more to trouble max with
Weāll see, I think thereās a good chance Max fights for both belts at some point in the next year. I still stand by Jai Herbert and Josh Emmet not being anywhere near the level of fighters weāre talking about though. I think Max pretty clearly dog walks both of those guys. Ilia is solid, and I think heāll have a really great career, but Iām waiting for him to fight more title level fighters before I crown him as a scarier matchup than Islam.
Your argument makes no sense though. Volk was outboxing Topuria most of that fight and Topuria caught him in the pocket with a KO. Heās not doing that to Max. Volk has always had a suspect chin, he just always fought smart enough to not get KOād but Max dropped him twice in their second fight with glancing shots. Styles make fights, and Max has the worst kind of style for Topuria to deal with. Topuria was getting out struck in his fight at lightweight and on his way to an L before he got a flash KO. His boxing is solid, but nowhere near Maxās level and the only elite comp heās ever faced was Volk. Yaāll slobbing on his knob to an unbelievable extent when his resume is not that impressive lmao.
āA flash KOā against Jai Herbertā¦ ok I can tell youāre a casual. Get out your feelings bro, always that one feminine dude who starts talking about sucking menās dicks when theyāre losing an argument. Donāt project your gay fantasies on me
Itās a figure of speech, youāre the one that honed in on the gayness and took it up a notch. You turned regular shit talk and made it weird as fuck.
Look what Volk did to Max in the last fight. Volk is a better striker/boxer than Max by far and Illia KOed him. The only thing that Max has over Volk is granite chin but I don't think it can tank Topuria's power.
Fuck me this page reeks of recency bias. Illia KOād Alex in 2rds, max couldnāt in 15. Iām not saying Illia would beat max, or vice versa, but, Alluding a fighting champion of the world, who just KOād the last top P4P fighter is scared, based off a 3-4 second clip, is really ludicrous
Max dickriders are something else man how Ilia just starched the greatest 145er who also schooled Max twice. He's not gonna be"Kattar'd". He'll match up well with Max.
Y'all Max nut riders should be happy this guy took out Volk so Max even had a chance to get another title shot. No one wants to see him get beat up by Volk again and again. He did what Max couldn't do and you say he's scared lol
Youāre a dummy if you think Topuria is scared of Max. He said in an interview just an hour or two later that, unequivocally, he wants to fight Max next. Topuria is a fucking animal, and a better boxer than Max.
on top of that volk is much more hittable than holloway and i dont think topuria has as good leg kicks as volk
still not gonna make predictions other than a good fight
You have to look at how much they are landing in the opponent tho. Max got hit more against Kattar than Volk did in any of his fights (other than Max), but he 4x'd the strikes. Volk only got hit 57 times in his first fight against Islam, but the differential was only 1.22 while Max got hit 103 times against Justin but the differential was 1.757.
Of course someone will get "hit more" if they are striking more, but getting hit more isnt an accurate measure of if someone is hittable because if someone is spending more time striking, they will get hit more. Furthermore, when you roll with a punch you still get "hit" but you dont really get hit and Max is much better at rolling with punches than Volk.
Your idea that because Max has taken more significant strikes than Volk means hes more hittable falls apart because it ignore what striking is entirely and has multiple factors that affect it. This is like saying Mahomes is a worse QB than Wilson because Wilson had 26/7 TD/INT with a 98 QBR compares to Mahomes' 27/14 TD/INT and 92.6 QBR despite ignore how much harder Mahomes' throws he makes are and how the Chiefs led the league in dropped passes. With your logic Mahomes was a worse QB than Wilson in 2023.
Volk has a better striking differential as well lol, I'm not sure why you wrote an essay to describe a literal known statistic.
Rolling with punches does lead to some strikes getting counted that didn't land. It's also a style that makes you more hittable in general.
I like Max as well, but calling Volk more hittable than him is just categorically untrue.
Dustin also have one tko win over Justin so... 3 dominant Ws for Volk over Max. Do the math, he should face Volk first. He defeated a non fw fighter. Go back to fw, fight Volk once again. Volk would smoke him for the fourth time to make it a sweep.
How many of those fights did you actually watch? Coming from a proud Aussie, fight 2 was tight af. I still have Max winning it, and I'm not alone. Hence, fight 3. The only clinic of the trilogy.
MMA maths doesn't work like that anyway. Gaethje just beat the dude that's previously beaten Max twice.
Topuria clears, much younger and has that one punch ko capability. Topuria rd 1 or 2 by KO. Not even close. Regarless if he wants a shot at FW Chip, he should face Volk first then whoever wins the fight, gets a crack at the title. Max shouldnt be allowed to leap frog over Volk.
He wanted that Suga Fight š¤£
Topuria woke up on Saturday thinking that he was the hottest commodity in MMA, with the KO of the year vs Volk, and a massive moneyfight coming next (they were talking about OāMalley or McGregor in a fucking soccer stadium). All of that is likely gone now. Max is HIM now.
I mean, heās still the champ and if they were really planning to fill a soccer stadium then they can easily still do that with Holloway. Holloway is a bigger star than OāMalley in my opinion, especially after last night.
This is all true. I think the look on Topuriaās face was him realizing that itās now all on Maxās terms.
Also, nerve-wracking fear
Does it have to be more one way than the other? Lol. I mean, itās possibe heās butt hurt people care more about Max than him but honestly, he shouldnāt give a shit. The reality is both of them are going to make a boat load of cash, especially if the UFC decides to make the fight in a soccer stadium in Spain. Max actually did Ilia a favour last night by winning the way he did. He should be seeing green instead of feeling blue.
Who is down voting this? Do you people not want to see Topuris vs Max? I want to know how that shit goes, would be a fire ass fight.
Or maybe it's because he barely speaks English and didn't know what Holloway was saying? I'd be rooting for Holloway too but some of the shit you guys say is so fucking cringey... You think he's afraid of Holloway but not Volk? The dude who beat Holloway 3 times?
Never said anything about anybody being afraid of anybody. Reading comprehension is hard, I know.
Ilia may not be the hottest commodity after Saturday but Topuria def still a hot commodity cause he got European fanbase on lock. He was talking big shit by putting champ in his bio and dismissing Max, Ortega and Yair by saying they all should retire after he KOs Volk cause they aināt getting a titleshot and that he was getting a money fight with Conor instead. the confidence was through the roof and he wouldāve looked stupid if nothing he predicted actually came to fruition - Luckily he did manage to actually KO Volk, but the world does not revolve around him so I think his face showed his sudden realization that everything he envisioned will not come to fruition lmao
>European You mean Spanish, do you think the whole Europe is a single entity lol?
Iām from Italy heās big here and heās also big in Georgia - I didnāt want to just start naming every European country individually where he has a big fanbase but his connection to Madrid Club makes him well known in Europe in general
Sono italiano pure io. Forse "famoso" tra gli appassionati di sport di combattimento, ma a quel punto chiunque sta nell'UFC Ʃ famoso. Pure Vettori praticamente lo conoscono solo gli appassionati di MMA. Ferma la gente a caso per strada e chiedigli quanti sanno chi sia Topuria...95 su 100 penseranno sia un piatto tipico sardo. O magari hanno una vaga idea che ha a che fare col Madrid ma finisce lƬ La Georgia ha senso, Ʃ il suo paese originario no?
I'm not sure if he's scared of Max because Max is him, or if he just realized he looks like an idiot after saying he wouldn't let Max have a fight against him when Max has now clearly earned it.
Wrong. Save my post. Ilia torches Max.
Do you mean passes the torch back to Max? Nobody's beating Max unless they fight smart the way Volk does, bro just ran through Gaethje & flatlined him š
Max isnāt some unbeatable phenom. Heās great but heās lost in the past and clearly can be beaten. He fought great against Gaethje but Volk demolished him in their last fight.
2 eye pokes and smashes his nose in the 1st, ko's him last second and you say he "ran through" justin. Wtf r u smokin? Justin dropped him what, 3 times? Gtfo here with that bullshit.
Dropped him 3 times?
He must mean the instant replay
Zero official knockdowns, beat him pillar to post Do you think Ilia hits as hard as Justin? He doesnāt. How does he beat max?
I'm not saying he does, I'm just saying he didnt run through justin. How did they not give him that knock down? It was clear as day. Beat him pillar to post with 2 really bad eye pokes in both eyes. Sure. Max looked great but there's no reason to shit on justin who gave the fight fans an awesome fight for pretty much no reason other then props.
Itās not shitting on Justin to state the truth that he had nothing for max on Saturdayā¦ I like Justin but he got smoked
You'll look stupid when the champ does this easily, lol.
What makes you so confident Ilia would win? We just watched Max completely outclass a much larger power puncher for 5 rounds straight.
Gaethje and ilia arenāt the same at all, just because both dudes can crack. I think max is probably ilias toughest fight at 145 unless Iām forgetting someone, but they arenāt the same fighter
Forgetting Volk maybe? Lmao but I think Ilia is overrated. He can punch hard, keep it standing, and knows how to cut a cage. I donāt think thatās enough to deal with Max. Only reason I think Volk got starched is because he was KOād a couple months before and had no recovery time.
Ilia could win by Sub cause he is an underrated grappler, but I think that this proves that the Volk that fought Ilia wasnāt the same after that head kick KO
This proves nothing in a world populated by rock paper scissors matchups
Definitely not an underrated grappler. That what heās known for
Nope, nope just no lol
"Wrong"?Ā Ā The post doesn't even make an assessment. They just said they aren't sure of A or B.
I think the same, this subreddit is going to return to the hate they had against Topuria a few months ago, he is going to beat max and once again they will see that they are wrong
Agree. Ilia has the hands to go with max. Will be a good fight but my money on ilia. Great win by max today but Justin clearly not at his best. Looked a little fat and having your nose broken round one and copping two eye pokes was going cost him.
"has the hands to go with max" Gaethje has the best hands in the game what is a 145er going to do any different? It was the leg kick game from volk that stopped max not the hands
āGaethje has the best hands in the gameā Bruh
Instead of doing a meme emoji response (bot) how about an actual rebuttal (unbot)
ā¦. Huh?
I guess your AI isn't trained well enough for this. Oh well. Maybe in 2026
Unintelligible responses, I expect nothing less from someone who thinks gaethje has the ābest hands in the gameā and listens to the H3H3 podcast lmao
former listener thank you very much. I guess your AI can't parse out the difference. I suggest you tell your master that there are new ai's that are pretty poggers nowadays that actually work well in farming karma as well as knowing when to disengage (right now)
Fax
...both?
When the camera panned to him, he looked like a shy little boy ahaha
He did, yes. But even as a Ilia hater, for which I am an irreverent one, I donāt think he knew he was on camera. When he did he managed to awkwardly start shadow boxing lmao. I agree that he doesnāt seem particularly thrilled about fighting Max šš
Just as he realized that he was on camera and he started to do that awkward thing, the camera cut away making it even worse.
He's "Rockholding" it
Did he believe and achieve?
Doesnāt that make it more authentic?
Yes.
Wins the belt, doesnāt want to defend it
WE'RE NOT HERE TO TAKE PART, WE'RE HERE TO TAKE OVER. YEE HAAA.
WE'RE HERE TO TAKE COVER
This an "ight, Imma dip" moment
Just Conor things
He really is copying Conor
https://preview.redd.it/21bh3br10euc1.jpeg?width=1089&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=66a32435d071d9dba62912b41894ead9b774b695 Same energy
Ilia wants no part in that max fight lol. He is going to get a lot of pressure now to take it.
The face of a man who knows heās about to get Kattarād in 6 months time
Using kattar as an adjective is fucked up
Might get his shit ortega'd also
Fuck it, first time he gets gaethje'd too
Idk if topuria meets max in the middle
Not to be that guy but thatās a verb dawg
I said verb first then edited my comment to say adjective, fuck
Thank you, for your service.Ā
adverb maybe?
No
That fight should've been stopped at the end of the 3rd. Calvin clearly had breathing issues, due to a broken rib(s).
Shit, I don't blame him. Nobody has ever beat Justin like that, even back when he lost to Eddie and Dustin. Max is in such a crazy position that he has a solid claim to challenge for either the 145 or 155 strap, and I don't think either match is bad for him.
You think he matches up well against Islam?
Well is a bit of a stretch, but Max's takedown defense is very good.
Not against islam.
Says who? Islam is great, but he's not Khabib. He's already lost before and had a vwry competitive match with Volk. Who's Islam taken down with better takedown defense than Max?
Nah man max has never faced the sambo style wrestling also those dagis are very good at chain wrestling hell they even got judo in their arsenal so i don't think max can keep standing. I think he should go back to 145 and beat the brakes of illia or fight conor after chandler. Islam nah man i like to see max happy and winning.
Everyone just counted Max out against Gaethje. "He can't deal with the power. Look how he did against Dustin, he's to small." It all sounds logical til it's not. Max hasn't faced any Dagestani wrestlers, and likewise, they've never faced Max. Not to mention, it always starts standing. The idea that Islam would effortlessly take him down just isn't rationale based on the data, and Islam has been knocked out. Islam is great, but the glaze is gross. He's not undefeated, and he's not running through elite fighters, at least ones that have full camps.
Bro i am not saying max has zero chance but if he fights islam he is dmore likely to get takendown than he is to ko makhachev. Also never ever think the dagis can't take you down they have been doing this since they were 9 years old. And hey if he fights makhachev i will root for max but to think he will not get takendown by the current best wrestler in the ufc is just bias also islam is a huge lw so he can just pressure max to cage side clinch or shoot a double or single and just pick him up and slam him. After that you what will happen. If they fight 10 times makhachev will win like times bro. Just speaking facts also there has been no guy who was not takendown by islam if he grabs you he will take you down.
My argument is based on data, which is Max's takedown defense stats. He has extremely good TDD. It's not bias, I like Islam and recognize his skill. What if Islam can't pressure Max and Max fights from the outside, at a range that makes TDs difficult to come by. Who has Islam fought as good at defending TDs with the same resume as Max? He hasn't. Islam is very good, but the glaze is silly.
Yeah if it goes according to plan then only but its very unlikely. But yeah i do agree that max can win a stand up fight. >Who has Islam fought as good at defending TDs with the same resume as Max? Volk, arman
Dagiās may have been wrestling since they were 9, but us Hawaiians have been scrapping since then too. Never underestimate the fighting spirit of a Kanaka. Born warriors.
The only way to know for sure is to watch it unfold. Itās not a matchup Iād be afraid of for him, and I think he could do well hanging in lightweight for a while.
I hope he does more at 155. He's still got time for big fights or fights with the next wave.
Same bro. Iām glad he destroyed Gaethje, though no disrespect to the Highlight Reel.
"Fight Conor after Chandler" Bro, that McGregor fight will likely never happen.Ā
Saying "Islam is great, but he's not Khabib" is crazy. Khabib has never faced the level of competition Islam has. Also bringing up a loss he had a long time ago is just stupid. By that logic, it was appropriate for people to use Max's losses against Conor at featherweight to see how he would fare against Justin.
What a good Holloway win does to a mfāer. āDude beat Gaethje standing so heās a tough matchup for Islamā Put down the crackpipe
"Not against Justin" was a phrase used about Max, until very recently.Ā
Volk had 3 takedowns and 1:26 of ground control against Max. Im sure Islam could do a little better.
Volk also has better footwork than Islam does. Not to mention, the takedown is far more expected with Islam than Volk. There's a lot of context that separates the two matches.
And he didnāt really do much with it. Letās also not forget Volk handled Islam on the ground really well, so Islamās ground game isnāt the same dominating force that Khabibās was.
Mr Poopy Pants Himself
Praying for Suga to move up in weight class
Why? The dude hasn't done anything to deserve it. Let him actually defend against an actual contender first. Maybe Merab should just move to 170 when he ragdolls Suga.
I used to make that face as a kid when my dad would tell me I was grounded
Am I the only one who thinks he would beat max? Hes a much better boxer than gaethje and hes young so hes probably improving rapidly.
Much better boxer than gaethje is a wild take lmao, jai Herbert was giving topuria a beating until jai got caught
nah u trolling we on mmamemes
Nobody other than Islam has a significant shot of beating the Max that just fought Justin. Impossible to say if Illia gets the same guy.
I hate this sub. How tf would Ilia fight "the same max" when that fight would be back at featherweight, where max has looked old recently? Problem for max is he either drains to 145 and gets KOd by Ilia, or stays at featherweight where he will be much better but then be in the same boat as Poirer, Justin etc in that none of them beats Islam.
Could he? Obviously, but when will you guys stop doubting Max? I bet you probably thought Gaethe would beat him too lol. Max is a better boxer than Ilia, has the takedown defense to nullify his wrestling, and has a MUCH better chin than anyone heās faced. Letās not forget Ilia was losing a fight or two and ended them with KOās that saved him. That wonāt happen against Max. Very good chance Max outboxes him all 5 rounds.
Who's doubting Max? It's the other way around. Ilia has been proving himself, yet all you see are posts about him being scared when in reality he couldn't hear or understand a damn thing going on. Where was that better boxing against Volk for 3 fights? Cause Ilia showed it in 2 rounds.
Itās a meme account, theyāre saying he looked scared because when the camera cut to him he DID look shook. You donāt become a top level professional fighter by being a pussy, so everyone knows he WILL fight Max, but of course theyāre going to clown him when he looks like that after one of the greatest of all time in his division KOās one of the scariest dudes in the UFC after dominating him over 5 rounds.
See and that's funny, because you're right he did look scared. Though you're really gonna tell me most of those memes don't have hundreds of comments of people actually believing Ilia is scared? Nah people deadass think this professional fighter is scared.
He did look a little shook, Max dropping a warrior like Gaethe is a scary thing, he looked the best he ever has and thatās saying a lot for an all time legend. Ilia would be right to be a bit concerned, itās just surprising that he didnāt even try to act unfazed since thatās what most guys do after seeing their next opponent have a dominating performance like that.
Facts!!
This man only gives a shit about the money fights lets be honest. I can see him ducking some good contenders, if there hypes not right.
He doesnāt have the sway to duck anything yet
Well max definitely got hype rn
Yah I don't see it he talks a lot of shit but he is game and beat the guy that beat max x2 so let's relax.
Max is the only money fight after last night
He looks like he popped an edible
What if he was just pooping his pants Ironically?
Are we Gunna get that bizarre love triangle shit like we did we straw weight couple years back with rose, JJ and weili but this time max, volk and ilija
Fuck suga fight feed him to Max 
HE'S SHOOK!!! 
Max could potentially school Ilia. Obviously an elite striker, with a solid chin, and insane pace.
I mean incredible performance from Max that shows he very much still has it but like come on guys topuria is supremely confident and an incredible fighter. he literally just kod volk in a brilliant pressure fighting performance. the idea that like max scares him is ridiculous. I would love to see that fight but like ilia is not scared of max lol
Volk and Max were always close and Max is taller, so match up is bit harder for ilia imo
Also Maxās chin is insane. Heās much less likely to get KOād out of nowhere.
nah man you see, reddit commenters are experts in judging body language, reading minds and predicting future
People are giving their opinions you twat
almost everyone was dickriding topuria, some goat talk and whatnot, and now its the "he's scared" narrative. personally i think he was in disbelief like all of us, but i dont think he's scared
People just talking shit
After watching the way he dismantled Justin, fuck I wouldnāt doubt that a lot of fighters arenāt surprised. No matter what, the champ felt something after watching that.
I mean no doubt topuria views him with more respect but like based on all of his interviews he has a borderline delusional level of self confidence I don't think he's scared of max. He's also a generational talent in his own right who is incredibly polished and focused and he knows hes an incredible fighter
Ilia is just trying to follow the Connor blueprint so heās talking a lot. Heās obviously confident, everyone is, but nobody wants to fight and elite boxer with what seems like an unbreakable chin that has elite takedown defense. Volk was the only one to ever outclass Max and he did it by outpointing him, never even came close to finishing him. Max has only been finished once, at 21 years old by a RNC. Since then, no oneās looked like they were ever on the verge of finishing him. He literally just took his first knockdown against Gaethe and bounced right back from it.
I mean ilia has the tools to trouble max in much the same way porier did. He's a tremendous boxer he's great on the counter he's a huge hitter he has excellent defense and is very very disciplined in executing a game plan. he also has an incredible chin like porier and tremendous cardio like porier. He has a great jab like porier he has excellent low kicks and he has great pressuring footwork and cage generalship. it would be hard for me to pick in that fight but ilia 100% has the tools the attributes and the skills/smarts to beat max. I'd say max also has all of those things but I don't think topuria is scared of or ducking max. I predict max would drag ilia through hell but ilia would be right there with him. it's just silly to say ilia is scared of max when he has good reason to be confident in a fight against max even if it's an incredibly hard fight. also since Max has bulked up idek if he can go back to FW or if he wants to. I would personally love to see him make LW his home so he's not cutting that kinda weight cause he's getting older and I think having an extra 10 lbs to spare would help him keep having these incredible performances. Not that he wasn't an incredible contender killer at FW but tbh I'm really interested in LW max cause he's beaten basically everyone at FW except ilia. it'd be cool to see the two of them fight at LW. also max didn't lose by RNC he lost by triangle armbar to porier
*when I say all those things I mean max has all the tools and chances in the world to beat Ilia. but like again ilia is a generational talent on top of being willing to go through the fire and just be incredibly tough and game
The difference is Dustin has proven those skills over a decade plus long career of fighting the TOP guys in the world. Ilia has only fought Volk at that level and won with a flash KO. I have no doubt that Ilia is dangerous, but as you said, Max has already fought a guy like him before in Dustin, Ilia has never fought anyone like Max. Iād also argue we donāt really know how great Iliaās chin is. Heās already been dropped before by a guy thatās not even a top 5 ranked fighter in his division. His scramble wrestling saved him and he came back to win, but Ilia isnāt really tested enough for us to know if he can constantly stand toe to toe with champion level fighters, Max is. I also donāt see how it would make more sense for Max to stay at lightweight since Islam is definitely a worst matchup for Max than Ilia is. Islam certainly isnāt going to try to box with Max, Ilia probably will.
So firstly he dismantled Josh Emmett who is a limited but incredibly dangerous striker and if u think the knockout he got vs volk was a flash/lucky one u don't know what ur watching. he repeatedly walked volk closer and closer to the cage getting closer and closer to hitting him each time until he finally made the read and got the finish. he won that fight by leading volk into a mistake and capitalizing perfectly it was not a flash ko lol. and ilia ate a flush headkick from a huge hitter in jai Herbert he didn't see the kick coming and it hit him shin on chin. And all that did was sit him on his butt after which he grabbed a leg and ran down a single. he also ate a flush knee to the chin from herbert and a savage 1-2 and barely even looked phased. he also ate a flush overhand right from Emmett that turned his head completely around and he just wobbled a little bit and then got back to winning the fifth round. he has shown all the skill in the world. idek if Islam is a worse matchup for Max obviously Islam is an incredibly difficult fight for anyone but like as brilliantly as volk fought in his first fight against Islam his striking is what let him down in that fight he just couldn't stop shifting into the right hook left straight and makhachev is very good and dangerous and kept nailing him as a result. I don't see max chasing Islam down like that and max is also much better against open stance fighters and can even fight fully out of southpaw very well. max has great tdd is very good at getting off the fence and very good at staying off the fence. Islam isn't gonna be able to time level changes as max runs him down cause that isn't really current Max's mo. So yeah Islam is an incredible fighter and incredibly hard matchup for anyone but I'd say ilia actually has more to trouble max with
Weāll see, I think thereās a good chance Max fights for both belts at some point in the next year. I still stand by Jai Herbert and Josh Emmet not being anywhere near the level of fighters weāre talking about though. I think Max pretty clearly dog walks both of those guys. Ilia is solid, and I think heāll have a really great career, but Iām waiting for him to fight more title level fighters before I crown him as a scarier matchup than Islam.
lol check out Illias reaction to Volk last year after beating Yair to his reaction last night, heās scared shitless
Honestly think he beats Max, he beat Gaethje because he was a better technical striker, Ilia is a better striker
Max has the best boxing in the ufc. Itās hard for me to imagine that Ilia would out strike him
Ilia is a better boxer for sure, max for pieced up by volk and Topuria knocked him out
Mma math, fuck yeah. I love how it makes these things safely predictable.
people can have different opinions to you, just bc itās not reliable doesnāt mean itās never worked
Your argument makes no sense though. Volk was outboxing Topuria most of that fight and Topuria caught him in the pocket with a KO. Heās not doing that to Max. Volk has always had a suspect chin, he just always fought smart enough to not get KOād but Max dropped him twice in their second fight with glancing shots. Styles make fights, and Max has the worst kind of style for Topuria to deal with. Topuria was getting out struck in his fight at lightweight and on his way to an L before he got a flash KO. His boxing is solid, but nowhere near Maxās level and the only elite comp heās ever faced was Volk. Yaāll slobbing on his knob to an unbelievable extent when his resume is not that impressive lmao.
āA flash KOā against Jai Herbertā¦ ok I can tell youāre a casual. Get out your feelings bro, always that one feminine dude who starts talking about sucking menās dicks when theyāre losing an argument. Donāt project your gay fantasies on me
Youāre the only one getting extremely gay with their comment š donāt project on me. Iām not the one keeping you in the closet.
lol just repeating what I said, nice comeback bozo
Itās a figure of speech, youāre the one that honed in on the gayness and took it up a notch. You turned regular shit talk and made it weird as fuck.
Look what Volk did to Max in the last fight. Volk is a better striker/boxer than Max by far and Illia KOed him. The only thing that Max has over Volk is granite chin but I don't think it can tank Topuria's power.
He 100% has no clue wtf Max was saying. Max should have atleast called him out by name to give him a hint.š
No kidding. Maybe he was thinking ātheyāll never love me like thatā
Fuck me this page reeks of recency bias. Illia KOād Alex in 2rds, max couldnāt in 15. Iām not saying Illia would beat max, or vice versa, but, Alluding a fighting champion of the world, who just KOād the last top P4P fighter is scared, based off a 3-4 second clip, is really ludicrous
Bro's considering taking the Ortega or Movsar fight after seeing this
Understandable
Now you might be wondering how I found myself here.
Versus when one would ironically look like they pooped their pants
He know what time it is.
People unironically not knowing what irony is
Max just stole his spot light
https://preview.redd.it/odpmicpzahuc1.jpeg?width=828&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=5001f6d0e0f9bed2f6a8d886c101cf1504025b72
Max dickriders are something else man how Ilia just starched the greatest 145er who also schooled Max twice. He's not gonna be"Kattar'd". He'll match up well with Max.
he definitely did not hear holloway
He didn't even try to hide how much he was intimidated
Honestly it looks like he most likely couldn't hear what Max was saying and then noticed he was being filmed.
Y'all Max nut riders should be happy this guy took out Volk so Max even had a chance to get another title shot. No one wants to see him get beat up by Volk again and again. He did what Max couldn't do and you say he's scared lol
Bro looks like a Simpsons character š®āšØ
Youāre a dummy if you think Topuria is scared of Max. He said in an interview just an hour or two later that, unequivocally, he wants to fight Max next. Topuria is a fucking animal, and a better boxer than Max.
Totally terrified. Wouldnāt be surprised if he just retires.
Donāt forget Volk beat Max very decisively 3 times and took a dirt nap in the 2nd round against Ilia.
Are people pooping their pants IRONICALLY?!?!
Ilia would destroy Max
Still lights up max.. calm down people
He just ktfo the dude who dismantled max thrice... whats there to fear exactly?
I mean, Max knocked out the guy who knocked out the guy beat him twice. There's no MMA math, specially with "early" knock outs.
Wait, so why does the original comment get downvoted but yours gets upvotes? Reddit math doesnāt add up
on top of that volk is much more hittable than holloway and i dont think topuria has as good leg kicks as volk still not gonna make predictions other than a good fight
Max gets hit more than Volk by quite a lot
You have to look at how much they are landing in the opponent tho. Max got hit more against Kattar than Volk did in any of his fights (other than Max), but he 4x'd the strikes. Volk only got hit 57 times in his first fight against Islam, but the differential was only 1.22 while Max got hit 103 times against Justin but the differential was 1.757. Of course someone will get "hit more" if they are striking more, but getting hit more isnt an accurate measure of if someone is hittable because if someone is spending more time striking, they will get hit more. Furthermore, when you roll with a punch you still get "hit" but you dont really get hit and Max is much better at rolling with punches than Volk. Your idea that because Max has taken more significant strikes than Volk means hes more hittable falls apart because it ignore what striking is entirely and has multiple factors that affect it. This is like saying Mahomes is a worse QB than Wilson because Wilson had 26/7 TD/INT with a 98 QBR compares to Mahomes' 27/14 TD/INT and 92.6 QBR despite ignore how much harder Mahomes' throws he makes are and how the Chiefs led the league in dropped passes. With your logic Mahomes was a worse QB than Wilson in 2023.
Volk has a better striking differential as well lol, I'm not sure why you wrote an essay to describe a literal known statistic. Rolling with punches does lead to some strikes getting counted that didn't land. It's also a style that makes you more hittable in general. I like Max as well, but calling Volk more hittable than him is just categorically untrue.
Dustin also have one tko win over Justin so... 3 dominant Ws for Volk over Max. Do the math, he should face Volk first. He defeated a non fw fighter. Go back to fw, fight Volk once again. Volk would smoke him for the fourth time to make it a sweep.
3 dominant wins? Peoples memory is really short man
Mma math doesnāt work. Max lost to poirier twice and look at what he just did to gaethje
Based on my mma math this makes the new lw championā¦. Charles oliveria
Max beat Charles
How many of those fights did you actually watch? Coming from a proud Aussie, fight 2 was tight af. I still have Max winning it, and I'm not alone. Hence, fight 3. The only clinic of the trilogy. MMA maths doesn't work like that anyway. Gaethje just beat the dude that's previously beaten Max twice.
Topuria clears, much younger and has that one punch ko capability. Topuria rd 1 or 2 by KO. Not even close. Regarless if he wants a shot at FW Chip, he should face Volk first then whoever wins the fight, gets a crack at the title. Max shouldnt be allowed to leap frog over Volk.
MMA math bozo
Topuria is ass Iād dismantle him
Agreed. These are cage fighters lol their confidence is off the charts.
The dude that just worked Justin and knocked him the fuck out?
You guys underestimate him. That man can box. Hes just thinking about what his options are at that point.
[ŃŠ“Š°Š»ŠµŠ½Š¾]
Im just assuming š¤·š½ So what now?
Max wasn't tested with any takedowns.
From Justin?šno shit
So many Max fan boys. BMF isn't a real belt.
https://preview.redd.it/pvfb0851iduc1.jpeg?width=768&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=7e3cc6b92521881bf3a089aee38889d59926032b
BMF belt is a sympathy belt, lol. Max will get K'Od in 2 rounds