Ilia Topuria’s head coaches don’t think it’s a good idea for Max Holloway to try his signature showdown with the UFC featherweight champion.

Jorge and Agustin Climent, owners of Climent Club in Spain, are confident that not only will Topuria (15-0 MMA, 7-0 UFC) get his hand raised at UFC 308, but that he can become the first man to knock out Holloway (26-7 MMA, 22-7 UFC), especially if the Hawaiian points to the ground and welcomes a brawl.

“If he’s going to have a showdown with Ilia, Max needs to put on a motorcycle helmet because Ilia cracks. His hands are dynamite,” Jorge told MMA Junkie in Spanish.

That confidence was also backed up by his brother.

“He has it tough, yeah. That poor guy needs to bring a helmet,” Agustin said. “Holloway hits hard, but Ilia hits very, very hard. He’d explode his head if he connects on him. His power is incredible, and he’s getting more and more dangerous.”

Holloway has fought many world-class power punchers, and yet, in 33 fights, he’s never been knocked out. Holloway has fought the likes of Justin Gaethje, Dustin Poirier, Conor McGregor, Jose Aldo, Yair Rodriguez, Charles Oliveira, and many other striking experts.

The Climent brothers are well aware of what Topuria is up against, and even then they have all the confidence their guy will get the stoppage win.

“Ilia can do the impossible, which is what he’s been doing up to now,” Agustin said.

Jorge added, “Normally people have their doubts, but us that know Ilia for 15 years, we know what he’s capable of, and we know what he’s going to do.”

Topuria is undefeated in his career, and has quickly become one of the best fighters today in just four years into his UFC career. Agustin believes Topuria, now 27, has entered a level that is unmatched today at 145 pounds.

“Ilia has been at a crazy level since before the Volkanovski fight, and he’s just maintaining that,” Agustin said. “But, yeah, he’s flying. He’s in his prime. If he were to fight Max Holloway when he fought Volkanovski, he would’ve beaten him up, and he beats him up now or the next month.”

For more on the card, visit MMA Junkie’s event hub for UFC 308.

Conor McGregor—in no uncertain terms—is not a fan of Johnny Eblen.

During this past Saturday’s PFL Battle of the Giants event, McGregor spent much of his time on social media roasting the action on the main card. With the exception of the main event, which saw Francis Ngannou score an impressive knockout in his MMA return, four of the top five fights on the lineup went to the scorecards and one fight in particular drew McGregor’s ire.

Eblen successfully defended his middleweight title in a rematch with Fabian Edwards, but the five-round decision victory had McGregor mocking the champion’s workmanlike effort. On Tuesday, Eblen tweeted a critique of McGregor, which the UFC star has since responded to.

“Conor went from ‘The face of the fight game’ to ‘The disgrace of the fight game,’ Eblen wrote on social media. “He embodies literally everything I don’t want to be as a man or as a human. What an embarrassment. It’s giving Icarus.”

To that, McGregor responded, “Bro the fight was absolute poo, that’s it.”

Eblen currently sports a 16-0 record and has made a name for himself as the best middleweight in the world outside of the UFC. He entered Battle of the Giants holding the No. 5 spot at 185 pounds in the MMA Fighting Global Rankings.

His criticism of McGregor stems from the former two-division champion’s lack of success and inactivity in recent years. “Notorious” has just one win in the past eight years, with Khabib Nurmagomedov, Dustin Poirier, and boxing legend Floyd Mayweather Jr. all handing him defeats.

McGregor has had plenty of time to engage in public feuds as he awaits his first fight since July 2021, when he broke his leg in a fight against Poirier at UFC 264. The 36-year-old was to make his comeback against rival Michael Chandler at UFC this past June, but was forced to withdraw due to injury.

It was part of a 20-minute exchange that was typical of the kind of magnetism Mourinho still holds.

In praising United for keeping faith with current manager Erik ten Hag during the present difficult spell, Mourinho managed to refer back to his own dismissal in December 2018 after two and a half seasons in charge.

“I wish the best to Man United since the moment I left,” he said.

“I left with a good feeling to the club and with a good feeling to the fans. If things are not going amazingly well for them it’s not something that makes me happy.

“It doesn’t make sense for me to be thinking about what happened and what didn’t happen.

“What happened for sure, because it’s very objective, is they keep faith in the coach, they support the coach, the coach is staying season after season and that means stability, it means trust, and they are giving him conditions to keep developing his job. That was different in relation to me.”

Mourinho said he was unaware he has never previously lost a home game against United.

He pointed out his previous encounters with them were with big clubs and said Fenerbahce would require the help of 35,000 home supporters in the stadium to stand any chance of victory.

“We are going to try and we can do it, but there is a gap,” Mourinho said.

Mourinho also offered his view on Sir Alex Ferguson, who will lose his ambassadorial role at United at the end of the season.

The pair have got on ever since Mourinho arrived at Chelsea in 2004 and despite his own experience at Old Trafford, it is clear Mourinho’s affection for the 82-year-old remains.

“He is amazing, incredible,” said Mourinho. “When my Netflix documentary comes out, you will know why I have so much respect.

“I don’t know the situation, it doesn’t matter why or what. He has the love and respect of every Man United fan around the world. That is more important than the ambassadorial role or money he doesn’t need.”

Mourinho is already encountering some criticism, with Fenerbahce eight points adrift of old rivals Galatasaray in the Turkish league table.

He said he would take the advice of local journalists before finalising his line-up for the United game.

However, after two spells with Chelsea, plus his time with United and Tottenham, it appears the 61-year-old is not finished with the Premier League just yet.

“Sooner or later they [Manchester United] will succeed,” he said. “Hopefully it is sooner, hopefully before one day I go back to the Premier League and they become my opponent.

“At this moment they are just my opponents for one match.”

UFC 308 fight week began with one more fight than it has now.

The bantamweight bout between Said Nurmagomedov and Daniel Santos has been canceled, the promotion confirmed Wednesday. The card will continue with 13 bouts, which take place at Etihad Arena on Yas Island.

Santos (12-2 MMA, 2-1 UFC) was “removed” from the bout according to the UFC, though no specific reason for the removal was cited. It’s Santos’ second-straight withdrawal.

Though he hasn’t competed since June 2023, Santos currently rides a two-fight winning streak consisting of victories over John Castaneda and Johnny Munoz.

Nurmagomedov (18-3 MMA, 7-2 UFC) has not competed since October 2023 when he bounced back into the win column with a 73-second submission victory over Muin Gafurov.

With the removal, the UFC 308 fight card includes:

MAIN CARD (Pay-per-view, 2 p.m. ET)

• Champ Ilia Topuria vs. Max Holloway – for featherweight title
• Khamzat Chimaev vs. Robert Whittaker
• Dan Ige vs. Lerone Murphy
• Magomed Ankalaev vs. Aleksandar Rakic
• Shara Magomedov vs. Armen Petrosyan

PRELIMINARY CARD (ESPN+, 10 a.m. ET)

• Rafael dos Anjos vs. Geoff Neal
• Myktybek Orolbai vs. Mateusz Rebecki
• Said Nurmagomedov vs. Daniel Santos
• Brunno Ferreira vs. Abus Magomedov
• Chris Barnett vs. Kennedy Nzechukwu
• Farid Basharat vs. Victor Hugo
• Rinat Fakhretdinov vs. Carlos Leal
• Ibo Aslan vs. Raffael Cerqueira
• Ismail Naurdiev vs. Bruno Silva

For more on the card, visit MMA Junkie’s event hub for UFC 308.

ABU DHABI – Aleksandar Rakic relishes the opportunity to fight Magomed Ankalaev.

Rakic (14-4 MMA, 6-3 UFC) takes on Ankalaev (19-1-1 MMA, 10-1-1 UFC) on Saturday’s UFC 308 main card at Etihad Arena (pay-per-view, ESPN+).

Rakic is aware of what’s at stake with a win. Many think Ankalaev is the rightful No. 1 contender who was passed up by Khalil Rountree for a shot at light heavyweight champion Alex Pereira at UFC 307.

“What makes me really happy is that the UFC gave me Ankalaev, and I honestly believe that if I didn’t put a good fight at UFC 300 – it doesn’t matter the result, I would never get that fight,” Rakic told MMA Junkie and other reporters at Wednesday’s UFC 308 media day.

“When I got the fight against Ankalaev, the name, I immediately said yes because he’s No. 2 ranked behind Jiri Prochazka, who lost twice to Pereira, so this is the best matchup for me. Stylistically it’s going to be a better matchup for me than Jiri Prochazka.”

Although Rakic is coming off back-to-back losses to Jan Blachowicz and Jiri Prochazka, Chael Sonnen thinks Rakic is a dangerous fight for Ankalaev. According to DraftKings, Rakic is a +285 underdog, and the 32-year-old is ready to play spoiler.

“It’s time to remind the fans, the people, and the UFC who ‘The Rocket’ is back in the days,” Rakic said. “I’m ready to crash the party on Saturday and to mix things up.”

For more on the card, visit MMA Junkie’s event hub for UFC 308.

PFL founder and chairman Donn Davis joins a special town hall with the MMA Fighting community.

Following Saturday’s PFL Battle of the Giants event in Saudi Arabia — which saw Francis Ngannou close the show with a ferocious first-round knockout of Renan Ferreira — joins MMA Fighting’s Mike Heck as he answers question live from the viewers.

Join the show live Wednesday at 5 p.m. ET / 2 p.m. PT. You can begin submitting your questions in the video link above.