{"id":315531,"date":"2025-11-29T02:12:04","date_gmt":"2025-11-29T02:12:04","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/315531\/"},"modified":"2025-11-29T02:12:04","modified_gmt":"2025-11-29T02:12:04","slug":"holloway-supports-topurias-ufc-hiatus","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/315531\/","title":{"rendered":"Holloway Supports Topuria\u2019s UFC Hiatus"},"content":{"rendered":"<p class=\"duet--article--dangerously-set-cms-markup duet--article--standard-paragraph _1nfb3k4i _16w9vov1 _16w9vov0 ls9zuh1\">Max Holloway fully understands the struggles that UFC lightweight champion Ilia Topuria is currently experiencing outside of the cage and supports his decision to put his UFC career on hold.<\/p>\n<p class=\"duet--article--dangerously-set-cms-markup duet--article--standard-paragraph _1nfb3k4i _16w9vov1 _16w9vov0 ls9zuh1\">Earlier this week, Topuria announced his decision to step away from fighting to begin 2026 while he focuses on his children during a reported divorce. Topuria doesn\u2019t want to <a href=\"https:\/\/www.mmamania.com\/ufc-news\/406027\/ilia-topuria-announces-break-from-fighting-i-dont-want-to-hold-up-the-division\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">\u201chold the division up,\u201d<\/a> which is why UFC decided to book <a href=\"https:\/\/www.mmamania.com\/ufc-fight-announcements\/405965\/dana-whites-big-paramount-announcement-paddy-pimblett-vs-justin-gaethje-to-headline-ufc-324-for-interim-lightweight-title-in-las-vegas\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Paddy Pimblett vs. Justin Gaethje<\/a> for the interim 155-pound title at UFC 324 this coming January. It was a commendable decision from Topuria, but still a hiatus fight fans weren\u2019t expecting.<\/p>\n<p class=\"duet--article--dangerously-set-cms-markup duet--article--standard-paragraph _1nfb3k4i _16w9vov1 _16w9vov0 ls9zuh1\">While Topuria is regarded as one of the best pound-for-pound fighters in the sport today there are some things more important than fighting. This includes family, which is exactly why the Spanish superstar is taking a break from defending his UFC title. Topuria needs to make sure his children are taken care of during the process. Once his divorced is finalized Topuria intends to return to UFC to unify his title.<\/p>\n<p class=\"duet--article--dangerously-set-cms-markup duet--article--standard-paragraph _1nfb3k4i _16w9vov1 _16w9vov0 ls9zuh1\">Holloway, who once shared a brief rivalry with Topuria before suffering a knockout loss at the hands of \u201cEl Matador\u201d at UFC 308 (see it <a href=\"https:\/\/www.mmamania.com\/2024\/10\/26\/24280061\/watch-full-fight-highlights-results-espn-abu-dhabi-ilia-topuria-max-holloway-ufc-308-knockout\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">HERE<\/a>), took to social media on Thursday to lend some support to his former foe. \u201cBlessed\u201d also has experience with divorce and wanted to let Topuria know that he\u2019s making the right decision.<\/p>\n<p class=\"duet--article--dangerously-set-cms-markup duet--article--standard-paragraph _1nfb3k4i _16w9vov1 _16w9vov0 ls9zuh1\">Check it out below along with Topuria\u2019s response.<\/p>\n<p class=\"duet--article--dangerously-set-cms-markup duet--article--standard-paragraph _1nfb3k4i _16w9vov1 _16w9vov0 ls9zuh1\">\u201cSorry to hear champ,\u201d wrote Holloway. \u201cIf it\u2019s what I\u2019m hearing it is I know the struggle first hand trying to fight while protecting your kids. Hope all goes well.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"duet--article--dangerously-set-cms-markup duet--article--standard-paragraph _1nfb3k4i _16w9vov1 _16w9vov0 ls9zuh1\">\u201cThanks for the support, brother,\u201d Topuria responded. \u201cAll the best for you and your family.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Max Holloway fully understands the struggles that UFC lightweight champion Ilia Topuria is currently experiencing outside of the&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":315532,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[570],"tags":[64,63,786,40762,785,85,1396],"class_list":{"0":"post-315531","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-mma","8":"tag-au","9":"tag-australia","10":"tag-fighting","11":"tag-latest-ufc-mma-news","12":"tag-mma","13":"tag-sports","14":"tag-ufc-news"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/315531","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=315531"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/315531\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/315532"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=315531"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=315531"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=315531"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}