{"id":3472,"date":"2025-07-17T18:38:09","date_gmt":"2025-07-17T18:38:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/3472\/"},"modified":"2025-07-17T18:38:09","modified_gmt":"2025-07-17T18:38:09","slug":"ufc-318s-max-holloway-has-a-little-warning-for-mma-fans-picking-ilia-topuria-to-steamroll-paddy-pimblett-hes-super-good","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/3472\/","title":{"rendered":"UFC 318\u2019s Max Holloway has a little warning for MMA fans picking Ilia Topuria to steamroll Paddy Pimblett \u2014 \u2018He\u2019s super good\u2019"},"content":{"rendered":"

Islam Makhachev vacated the lightweight title<\/a> and bolted for welterweight and newly-crowned 155-pound champion<\/a> Ilia Topuria has yet to defend the division strap, so it\u2019s still anybody\u2019s ballgame when it comes to scoring the next crack at the lightweight crown.<\/p>\n

Which could be awarded to No. 10-ranked<\/a> contender Paddy Pimblett.<\/p>\n

That might not sit well with some of the \u201cangry\u201d lightweights<\/a> patiently waiting for their respective turns, even under the threat of retirement<\/a>, but ex-featherweight champion Max Holloway, now a permanent resident at 155 pounds<\/a>, understands how the game is played.<\/p>\n

\u201cPeople forget we\u2019re in the entertainment business,\u201d Holloway told MMA Fighting<\/a>. \u201cThat\u2019s what fighting is. We\u2019re entertainment, and whoever sells those seats, that\u2019s what the UFC is going to do. We have [Dana White] talking about how Arman [Tsarukyan] is taking the right step to getting a title shot again, which is insane, and with Justin Gaethje saying about a title shot, I mean my last \u201855 fight, I did what I did and now I\u2019m here at \u201855. It\u2019s just weird.\u201d<\/p>\n

Holloway, who already scored a victory over Oliveira<\/a>, stopped Justin Gaethje at UFC 300 early last year<\/a>. If \u201cBlessed\u201d can defeat Dustin Poirier atop the UFC 318 pay-per-view (PPV) card<\/a> this weekend in New Orleans, he\u2019ll hold wins over three of the Top 6 contenders<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Even so, he may still take a back seat to the \u201csuper good\u201d Pimblett.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s mixed martial arts, anybody can win,\u201d Holloway said. \u201cEverybody can say we saw Paddy get cracked. I saw myself get cracked a bunch of times and when Ilia hit me, we saw what we saw. At the end of the day, it\u2019s mixed martial arts. I think Paddy and his team will prepare right for that fight. I think they\u2019ll have a game plan and he\u2019s no slouch.\u201d<\/p>\n

The promotion has yet to book Topuria\u2019s first title defense.<\/p>\n

\u201cA lot of people thought Paddy was this guy who just talks and runs his mouth and then he got to prove himself against a guy like [Michael] Chandler,\u201d Holloway added. \u201cHe\u2019s not a wrestler but he out-wrestled the wrestler, which was pretty crazy to see. He\u2019s super good. This is mixed martial arts. It\u2019s what\u2019s going on that day and whoever can apply their game plan that they\u2019ve been doing, you never know.\u201d<\/p>\n

Hopefully matchmakers will have some answers in the wake of UFC 318.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

<\/a><\/p>\n


\n LIVE! Watch UFC 318 PPV On ESPN+ Here!
\n <\/a><\/p>\n

LEGENDARY TRILOGY \/ BMF SHOWDOWN!<\/a> Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) continues its 2025 pay-per-view (PPV) schedule on Sat., July 19, 2025, with a thrilling trilogy set to headline UFC 318 from inside Smoothie King Center in New Orleans, Louisiana. In UFC 318\u2019s PPV main event, Max Holloway defends his BMF title<\/a> against former interim Lightweight champion (and No. 3<\/a>-ranked contender), Dustin Poirier, in a high-stakes, five-round clash that will mark the final fight for \u201cThe Diamond\u201d<\/a> before he retires from the sport. UFC 318\u2019s PPV co-main event features Middleweight contenders Paulo Costa vs. Roman Kopylov<\/a> in a pivotal 185-pound bout rescheduled from UFC 317. UFC 318 will also showcase a Welterweight clash between Kevin Holland vs. Daniel Rodriguez<\/a>, a Featherweight showdown pitting Dan Ige vs. Patricio Pitbull<\/a>, a Lightweight bout featuring Michael Johnson vs. Daniel Zellhuber<\/a> and much more! UFC 318\u2019s start time is scheduled for 6:15 p.m. ET (\u201cEarly Prelims\u201d<\/a>), 8 p.m. ET (\u201cPrelims\u201d undercard<\/a>) and 10 p.m. ET (PPV main card<\/a>).<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\tDon\u2019t miss a single second of EPIC face-punching action!<\/a><\/p>\n

MMAmania.com<\/a> will deliver LIVE round-by-round, blow-by-blow coverage of the entire UFC 318 fight card right RIGHT HERE<\/a>, starting with the early ESPN2\/ESPN+<\/a> \u201cPrelims\u201d matches at 6 p.m. ET, followed by the remaining undercard balance on ESPN\/ESPN+<\/a> at 8 p.m. ET, before the UFC 318 PPV main card start time at 10 p.m. ET on ESPN+<\/a> PPV.<\/p>\n

To check out the latest and greatest UFC 318: \u201cHolloway vs. Poirier 3\u201d news and notes be sure to hit up our comprehensive event archive right here<\/a>. For the updated and finalized UFC 318 fight card and PPV lineup click here<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Islam Makhachev vacated the lightweight title and bolted for welterweight and newly-crowned 155-pound champion Ilia Topuria has yet…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":3473,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[444],"tags":[4443,49,48,2185,4445,641,693,700,4453,4442,2197,4441,4447,701,3202,4440,638,2184,4450,4446,4451,694,82,4449,4452,696,4448,640,4456,4455,702,4454,4444],"class_list":["post-3472","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-mma","tag-a","tag-ca","tag-canada","tag-com","tag-fans","tag-fighting","tag-for","tag-front-page","tag-good","tag-has","tag-he","tag-holloway","tag-ilia","tag-latest-news","tag-little","tag-max","tag-mma","tag-mmamania","tag-paddy","tag-picking","tag-pimblett","tag-s","tag-sports","tag-steamroll","tag-super","tag-to","tag-topuria","tag-ufc","tag-ufc-318-holloway-vs-poirier-3-start-time-full-results-espn-mma","tag-ufc-events-ppv","tag-ufc-news","tag-upcoming-ufc-events","tag-warning"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3472","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3472"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3472\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/3473"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3472"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3472"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3472"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}