‘This Topuria-Holloway fight is terrible’… Dana White previews UFC 308, admits it ‘sucks’ that someone must lose main event title showdown

UFC 308 is undoubtedly one of the most stacked MMA cards of the whole year, with four incredibly popular fighters scheduled to compete in the main and co-main events respectively.

Yet the issue with having four fan-favorite fighters in action is that when all is said and done, two of those athletes will exit UFC 308 with another loss on their records – something that UFC CEO Dana White rightly pointed out when he previewed this weekend’s outstanding PPV.

Photo by Cooper Neill/Zuffa LLCDana White previews UFC 308: Topuria vs Holloway title showdownUFC boss Dana White has admitted that whilst he can’t wait to watch Ilia Topuria and Max Holloway throw down this weekend, he also doesn’t want to see either man lose the highly anticipated featherweight title showdown.

“He’s a nice kid,” Dana White said on the 15-0 Spanish-Georgian sensation during his appearance on the ‘Outta Pocket with RGIII’ Podcast earlier this week.

“This Topuria-Holloway fight is terrible because when you like both guys and they actually have to go in there, and somebody has to lose – it sucks.

“Max Holloway is one of the greatest ever to do it and just one of the nicest dudes, he has the BMF belt, and he is a [true] BMF… Topuria has been an absolute rockstar and it should be a fun fight.”

White conceded that “I hate to see somebody lose that fight,” as he noted how it’ll be interesting to see how Holloway performs at 145lbs now that he’s moving back down from lightweight to challenge, once again, for featherweight gold.

“His only move up in weight where he looked really good was [Justin] Gaethje… When he was younger, he had that lean body build [whereas] he’s filled out a little bit since he’s gotten older. 100% [he looks different] and different now to when he fought Poirier too, it’s an interesting fight – a very interesting fight.”

THROWBACK: Ilia Topuria survives 40-second knockdown to score one of the best KOs of the yearHolloway himself recently came out to address concerns about the upcoming weight cut, teasing how he’s never missed weight before in his UFC career and doesn’t plan on starting out in Abu Dhabi.

“I ain’t planning on starting to miss weight for this fight because this fight, it took a whole lot of work to get back here you know… People said that I shouldn’t be here, that I should have done something else, I should focus on something else… But then again, we’re here and we’re fighting for a world title against this new generation.”

When pressed for his thoughts on how the UFC 308 main event will go down, the UFC boss unsurprisingly refused to offer a definitive prediction: “I honestly don’t know how I look at this fight, I’m excited to see it but I don’t know how it’s going to play out.”

UFC 308: Holloway hits back at Topuria’s ‘ten seconds’ suggestion as he brands rival the ‘dumbest MF’

Dana White previews co-main event between Whittaker and ChimaevWhilst Dana White is expecting the main event to be a fascinating stylistic affair, he’s predicting that the co-main of UFC 308 between former champion Robert Whittaker and undefeated phenom Khamzat Chimaev will be an “absolute war.

“Both guys have outstanding wrestling and both guys can bang,” teased White as he noted that he’s been riding the Whittaker hype-train since before he even signed to the promotion, whereas Chimaev’s popularity exploded during the pandemic.

“It’s funny ‘cause when Whittaker was on The Ultimate Fighter, I honestly said that this guy’s going to be a world champion and the guy’s delivered on everything I ever thought he could do.

“Then Khamzat burst onto the scene during Covid… And he just absolutely blew up, so stylistically it’s a great fight – both really great wrestlers and both really good in the stand-up.”

BORZ: UFC champion offers insight into Chimaev’s return, warns ‘there’s no bigger test than Whittaker’

At the time of writing, Whittaker is the slight underdog to the undefeated ‘Borz’, with many fans expecting the result to come down to whether the Australian can keep the fighting standing.

“This should be an absolute war,” concluded White: “Robert Whittaker is a great wrestler [too], so it should be a stand-up war.”

UFC 308: Topuria vs Holloway goes down this weekend, live from the UAE.

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