The featherweight title is on the line Saturday in the UFC 308 main event when Ilia Topuria (15-0 MMA, 7-0 UFC) puts his belt up for the first time when he takes on former champ Max Holloway (26-7 MMA, 22-7 UFC).
Take a look at a chronological history of the UFC’s 145-pound title, which migrated over from the WEC in 2010 when the promotions merged.
Jose Aldo
Jose Aldo
Date: Nov. 20, 2010 Event: UFC 123 Opponent: N/A Total reign: 1.848 days Title defenses: Mark Hominick, Kenny Florian, Chad Mendes, Frankie Edgar, Chan Sung Jung, Ricardo Lamas, Chad Mendes
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Conor McGregor (interim)
Jul 11, 2015; Las Vegas, NV, USA; Conor McGregor (blue gloves) celebrates after defeating Chad Mendes (not pictured) in their interim featherweight title bout during UFC 189 at MGM Grand Garden Arena. McGregor won via second round TKO. Mandatory Credit: Joe Camporeale-USA TODAY Sports
Date: July 11, 2015 Event: UFC 189 Opponent: Chad Mendes Total reign: N/A Title defenses: None
Conor McGregor
Conor McGregor after knocking out Jose Aldo in 13 seconds at UFC 194.
Date: Dec. 12, 2015 Event: UFC 194 Opponent: Joe Aldo Total reign: 350 days Title defenses: None (stripped of title)
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Jose Aldo (interim)
Jose Aldo
Date: July 9, 2016 Event: UFC 200 Opponent: Frankie Edgar Total reign: N/A Title defenses: None
Jose Aldo
May 11, 2019; Rio de Janeiro, Brazil; Jose Aldo (red gloves) reacts to fight against Alexander Volkanovski (blue gloves) during UFC 237 at Jeunesse Arena. Mandatory Credit: Jason Silva-USA TODAY Sports
Date: Nov. 26, 2016 Event: N/A Opponent: N/A Total reign: 189 days Title defenses: None
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Max Holloway (interim)
Max Holloway
Date: Dec. 10, 2016 Event: UFC 206 Opponent: Anthony Pettis Total reign: N/A Title defenses: None
Max Holloway
Max Holloway
Date: June 3, 2017 Event: UFC 212 Opponent: Jose Aldo Total reign: 925 days Title defenses: Jose Aldo, Brian Ortega, Frankie Edgar
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Alexander Volkanovski
Alexander Volkanovski, UFC 245
Date: Dec. 14, 2019 Event: UFC 245 Opponent: Max Holloway Total reign: 1,526 days Title defenses: Max Holloway, Brian Ortega, Chan Sung Jung, Max Holloway, Yair Rodriguez
Yair Rodriguez (interim)
Feb 12, 2023; Perth, WA, AUSTRALIA; Yair Rodriguez (red gloves) is interviewed after defeating Josh Emmett (not pictured) during UFC 284 at RAC Arena. Mandatory Credit: Jasmin Frank-USA TODAY Sports
Date: Feb. 12, 2023 Event: UFC 284 Opponent: Josh Emmett Total reign: N/A Title defenses: None
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Ilia Topuria
Feb 17, 2024; Anaheim, California, USA; Ilia Topuria celebrates his championship victory against Alexander Volkanovski during UFC 298 at Honda Center. Mandatory Credit: Gary A. Vasquez-USA TODAY Sports
Date: Feb. 17, 2024 Event: UFC 298 Opponent: Yair Rodriguez Total reign: Incumbent Title defenses: None
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Check out these photos of Kade Ruotolo’s pro MMA debut, a first-round submission of Blake Cooper at ONE Championship 167 at Impact Arena in Bangkok, Thailand. (Photos courtesy of ONE Championship)
Victor Hugo grew up watching his father Marcio compete in full-contact fights and began training martial arts at 5 years of age, but quickly dropped jiu-jitsu to focus solely on striking practice. Two decades later, he’s now a UFC fighter looking for his first knockout inside the octagon.
Nicknamed “Striker” for his love of stand-up fighting, Hugo enters the UFC 308 cage to face undefeated Farid Basharat this Saturday in Abu Dhabi and wants to add the 9th knockout to his MMA record. Hugo won his UFC debut with a decision over Pedro Falcao, six months after tapping out Eduardo Torres on Dana White’s Contender Series.
“I’m by far the best fighter he’s ever faced,” Hugo said in an interview with MMA Fighting. “He fought (Taylor Lapilus), a kickboxing champion with no ground game or takedown defense. If we’re talking striking, my nickname says it all. And I don’t even need to talk about my takedown defense. And I’m a black belt on the ground, brother. He’s never fought a black belt before.”
“This is a test for him, not for me,” he continued. “It’s a good fight for me. He has good striking, he’s fast, and he has good cardio, but my takedown defense is ridiculous. He won’t take me down like he has against other opponents. … He’s good, but he’s not a fantastic striker. His kicks are fast but that’s it. He’s never finished anyone, and I’ve knocked out a shitload of people, so there’s a good chance I knock him out as well.”
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Hugo said “it’s always been my dream to fight vale tudo since I was a kid” after watching old tapes of Royce Gracie winning the first UFC events and Mirko Cro Cop dropping people left and right inside the PRIDE ring, and it’s special to now find himself standing on the same cage that has once welcomed such legends.
“I was such a big fan of Cro Cop,” Hugo said. “We had no access to information like we have today, so I used to go to [n internet cafe] and burn CDs and DVDs of his fights so I could watch it over and over and over again at home.”
Though Hugo claimed otherwise, Basharat does have stoppage wins on his record, with one knockout and six submissions across a dozen of professional MMA appearances, but the Brazilian isn’t amazed. A pro fighter since 2011, Hugo says “my calm makes others desperate.”
“All that time has gotten me ready for this,” Hugo said. “I see fighting as math. Many people are emotional, but I’m different. He has this single leg takedown? I’ll defend it 50 times in the gym. What are his flaw? Body shots? Ok, I’ll work a lot on my attacks to the body. When you’re calm and collected up there you can see everything your opponent is doing, and that makes them desperate.”
When it comes to Dana White’s continued attempts to paint his UFC departure a certain way, Francis Ngannou is doing his best to take the high road – but he also wants to keep it real.
Rather than give his take on Ngannou’s in-cage performance, White went out of his way to re-hash how things ended with Ngannou – at least according to him.
“(His performance) was better than Donn Davis’ – way better,” White said with a laugh. “Listen, man, I’m going to tell you what I think about Francis: Francis is all about the money. Francis left because he knew if he fought Jon Jones and didn’t win, it would hurt his chances of making the money he wanted to make. But realistically his deal was bigger here. His deal was bigger here if he stayed in the UFC. I think I told this story a million times. They can deny it all they want. Why the f*ck would I lie? What do I care? It doesn’t matter to me one way or the other.”
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White later said that he wanted to release Ngannou in 2018 after consecutive losses to Stipe Miocic and Derrick Lewis, but he didn’t because someone “begged” him not to.
Ngannou responds directly to White
Francis Ngannou and Dana White
Ngannou can’t seem to understand why White won’t stop talking bad about him.
“Regardless of everything that happened, I’m not about him,” Ngannou said Friday in an interview with Sirius XM Fight Nation. “I went out there, did a fight, had a good fight for my son’s memory, but the guy can’t stand – I don’t know what is his problem. He can make everything up as he wants. That’s his problem. I think he needs to make peace with himself. …
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“(He) could’ve just said, ‘We didn’t find an agreement. We couldn’t come to a deal, but good luck to him.’ That’s it, you know? Good for him, and we continue our lives. What’s the problem here? I think the problem is he can’t handle this loss.”
And that’s a point Ngannou wants to drive home
“Dana has lost in this situation, and the only thing is that he cannot stand it,” Ngannou said. “Bro, I won everything.”
A big reason why Ngannou couldn’t come to terms with the UFC on a new contract was because the promotion wouldn’t support his desire to venture into boxing. The PFL obliged that request and after signing with the promotion, Ngannou took part in two lucrative fights with Tyson Fury and Anthony Joshua in October 2023 and this past March.
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While he lost both matchups in the ring, Ngannou widely has been lauded for finding his way out of a restrictive UFC deal and maximizing his earnings. Ngannou can only imagine how much that bothers White.
“I’m sure he’s been praying for my downfall, but I just keep doing my thing, rising,” Ngannou said. “Since I left the UFC, in many senses, I’m more than what I was. …
“Now I have made more money than I would have ever made in the UFC. I would say maybe twice the money that I could have made in my entire UFC career if I had continued in the UFC. I’m not just saying from the moment that I stopped. Either way, if I have made less money, if I’m not making enough money that I could’ve made in the UFC, that would be my problem. Why is he so pissed about me not making that much money? C’mon, man, live your life.”
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Back in August, Nurmagomedov defeated Cory Sandhagen in the main event of UFC Abu Dhabi, setting himself up as the next title challenger for the bantamweight title. So one month later, when Merab Dvalishvili took the belt from Sean O’Malley at UFC 306, it looked for all intents and purposes that the promotion had a fight, to the extent that they even asked Dvalishvili about Nurmagomedov in his post-fight speech.
But now things don’t seem nearly so certain.
Over the past couple of months, Dvalishvili and Nurmagomedov have feuded publicly over their possible fight, with Dvalishvili even lobbying for an immediate rematch with O’Malley during a Fan Q&A ahead of UFC 308 this weekend. And of course Nurmagomedov responded.
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I am always ready, and right now I am waiting for an opponent, as Yadong declined to fight in December — I was told he is injured.
Merab, before my fight with Sandhagen, you said that if I beat him, I would deserve recognition. Now you have changed your position — decide who…
I am not waiting for anyone and I want to fight before Ramadan. I hope UFC finds an opponent. And the title, inshaAllah, is just a matter of time. pic.twitter.com/hasZPpDO2k
“I am always ready, and right now I am waiting for an opponent, as [Song] Yadong declined to fight in December — I was told he is injured.
“Merab, before my fight with Sandhagen, you said that if I beat him, I would deserve recognition. Now you have changed your position — decide who you are. All the fans and analysts are noticing how you are avoiding the fight. Championship is recognition, but you haven’t received it, and you know that perfectly well.
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“I am not waiting for anyone and I want to fight before Ramadan. I hope UFC finds an opponent. And the title, inshaAllah, is just a matter of time.”
While the fight was never confirmed, Nurmagomedov was rumored to face Song Yadong in the main event of UFC Tampa on Dec. 14. Meanwhile, Dvalishvili is targeting a return to the cage in 2025.
UFC 308 goes down this Saturday, headlined by the long-awaited featherweight title matchup between Ilia Topuria and ‘BMF’ champion Max Holloway. On top of that, the #UFC presents a highly-anticipated middleweight matchup in the co-main event, as former champion Robert Whittaker faces undefeated terror Khamzat Chimaev.
UFC 308 is one of the biggest events of the year and so ahead of Saturday’s doubleheader, MMA Fighting’s Jed Meshew and Mike Heck preview the massive card, discuss Holloway’s chances at upsetting Topuria, whether or not Chimaev can finally earn himself a title shot, just how badly Magomed Ankalaev needs a win over Aleksandar Rakic, and much more.
Catch the UFC 307 preview show above. An audio-only version of the show can be found below and on Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, Spotify, and wherever you find your favorite podcasts.
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