UFC 308 results: Ilia Topuria makes history, knocks out Max Holloway in brutal fashion; Chimaev destroys Whittaker

Ilia Topuria swore that he was the first person to knock Max Holloway unconscious. As the MMA world continues to discover, the UFC featherweight champion is a man of his word.

Topuria defended his title in historic, brutal fashion on Saturday, knocking out Holloway with a monstrous barrage of punches in the main event of UFC 308, which took place at the Etihad Arena in Abu Dhabi. With the victory, Topuria concludes his 2024 season after knocking out two of the most decorated featherweights in UFC history with meaningful finishes over an eight-month period. Topuria secured his title by ending Alexander Volkanovski's four-year reign in February.

“Beating a legend like Max Holloway is something – I can’t even believe it,” said an emotional Topuria. “I just followed his entire career. He has inspired me so much in my career. He was a great example for my generation, and I have always said that now I represent the new generation, and I hope that I will be a small part of the example that he was for me, for the new generation .”

Topuria (16-0) threw Hellfire at Holloway from the opening bell. The 27-year-old champion stayed true to his promise to give Holloway one of the challenger's signature point-down throws in the first 10 seconds, and after Holloway refused, Topuria went to work, supporting Holloway with heavy hooks and pounding him down on the screen twice right at the beginning. Holloway seemed to find his rhythm in the second round, holding his punches long and landing in a big way, but things quickly turned in the third round after Topuria landed a monster right-hander that stunned his challenger.

Sensing the end, Topuria pounced on Holloway with several vicious attacks before finally making history by knocking out Holloway with a gorgeous left hand just 94 seconds into the third round.

Holloway (26-8) is now 0-4 in his last four attempts to regain the UFC featherweight title.

“I felt great until he did it,” Holloway said, defeated. “That’s the sport, man. Hats off to him. No excuses. I felt great, I had a great camp, no injuries. I went out here and did my thing. He was just the better man tonight, but he gave me this.” Name 'bounce back', so we'll see each other again, my friend.

In the co-main event, Khamzat Chimaev (14-0) made a brilliant statement for his immediate entry into the middleweight title fight, passing former UFC champion Robert Whittaker (26-8) like a hot knife in a breathtaking performance Butter cut mixed martial arts dominance.

It only took Chimaev a few seconds to leap over the cage and drag Whittaker to the ground. From there, he worked Whittaker methodically, reclaiming the former champion, sinking two hooks and throwing a series of rear-naked choke attempts before drawing Whittaker into an immediate strike with a brutal face-crank submission. The scene at the end of the fight appeared to injure Whittaker's jaw, earning Chimaev the distinction of becoming the first man since 2011 to defeat Whittaker by submission.

The official stoppage time was just 3:34 in the opening round. Chimaev then took the microphone and called for Sean Strickland to jump the queue to challenge UFC champion Dricus du Plessis.

“Dana (White), what’s wrong with UFC, man? Give me the belt,” Chimaev shouted.

Elsewhere on the card, light heavyweight contender Magomed Ankalaev (18-1-1, 1 NC) continued his pursuit of UFC champion Alex Pereira with a clear – if uneventful – unanimous decision victory over Aleksandar Rakić (14-5). . In a transcendent affair, Ankalaev outlasted and landed Rakic, giving him a trio of unanimous 29-28 finishes, extending his UFC unbeaten streak to 12 straight fights.

“I did everything to deserve the next title shot,” Ankalaev said. “I would like to talk to Alex, I would like to tell him, 'Hey, stop running from me, we should fight.' This is what everyone wants to see.

It wasn't easy, but Lerone Murphy (15-0-1) came from behind to win over Dan Ige (18-9) and maintained his unbeaten record after struggling in the opening with a left hand counterattack injured had rounds.

After surviving to the bugle, Murphy recovered and won rounds two and three, combining a steady diet of timely takedowns with increased punching power, including a large barrage of punches and knee strikes at the buzzer to seal the deal. In the end, all three judges scored the fight 29-28 for Murphy, giving the English contender a seven-fight winning streak in the UFC featherweight class.

Following his victory, Murphy called out former UFC interim title challenger Josh Emmett.

In the pay-per-view opening match of the evening, up-and-coming middleweight Shara Magomedov (15-0) kicked things off in highlight-reel style and remained undefeated with an absurd knockout of Armen Petrosyan (9-4) thanks to a sequence that ran in the Essentially a double punch.

Magomedov hit Petrosyan with a right spinning punch, then immediately turned back and hit him with a left punch to the back, earning him a walk-off knockout at 4:52 of Round 2.

Magomedov is now a perfect 4-0 under the UFC umbrella.

Get complete UFC 308 results from the Uncrowned All-Star team here.

To relive all the action from a wild Saturday in Abu Dhabi, check out Uncrowned's UFC 308 live blog.