Ilia Topuria on why he thinks Conor McGregor will beat Max Holloway at UFC 329 – and hopes he does

Photo by Noam Galai/Getty Images for Cantor Fitzgerald Ilia Topuria backs Conor McGregor ahead of return against Max Holloway at UFC 303 Ilia Topuria is confident that Conor McGregor will win his comeback fight, and he’s hoping it goes that way too. McGregor has spoken highly of his training camp, claiming he’s ‘better than ever’ as he prepares for a long-awaited return to the Octagon in July. Even though Max Holloway isn’t overlooking McGregor, by July 11 it will have been over five years since the Irishman last stepped into the cage.

This fight is set for welterweight, but the current lightweight champion will still be paying close attention to this main event. Photo by Louis Grasse/PxImages/Icon Sportswire via Getty Images Ilia Topuria backs Conor McGregor to beat Max Holloway and hopes he does to set up a clash between them Back in 2024, Ilia Topuria became the only man to knock out Max Holloway when he defended his featherweight title before moving up a division. Though he wasn’t impressed by the main event of UFC 329, ‘El Matador’ still sees McGregor’s return as a positive for MMA.

He thinks Conor has the tools to pull off another win over Holloway. “It’s going to be a fight, I think, of purely striking where we will not see anything of, no wrestling or ground game, and don’t you think Conor is much worse than Max? They are going to hit each other like two kittens,” Topuria told Carlos Contreras Legaspi.

“They will be there touching each other, marauding, but I think is going to win as they fought once, he got it and this time, he can beat him. He must beat him. He must beat him.