Former UFC champ advises Max Holloway to not fall into Ilia Topuria's mind games "trap": "You a vet and OG"

Featherweight king Ilia Topuria will take on Max Holloway in the first defense of his featherweight title in the main event of UFC 308 on Oct. 26. Topuria is well-renowned to radiate an aura of confidence, and his exploits inside the octagon continue to validate that.

Leading up to the clash, Topuria has asserted that he could be the first fighter to knock out Holloway in the Hawaiian's 33-fight professional career. 'El Matador' has also mocked his rival's claims of being arguably the best boxer in the UFC and claimed that he would beat Holloway at his own game when he points to the canvas at the start of the fight.

Most recently, in an interview with Marca, Topuria launched a sharp preview of the fight throwing shade at his rival, saying:

"As soon as [Holloway] starts to really fight me and start exchanging blows, that's the end of the fight. Nobody can exchange blows with me, not only because of my power but because of the technique I apply to each movement... So as soon as [Max] starts to fight, as soon as he points his finger down, if he does it from the beginning... that's it."

Check out the post below:

Former UFC welterweight champion Tyron Woodley commented on the Instagram post by ESPN MMA and advised Holloway against falling into Topuria's traps. He wrote:

"Stick to the gameplan @blessedmma. You [are] a vet and OG. Don’t fall into the trap."

Check out the comment below:

Tyron Woodley offers advise to Max Holloway ahead of Ilia Topuria clash [Images courtesy: @espnmma on Instagram]

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Max Holloway fires back at Ilia Topuria's comments that he will flip the script at UFC 308

Max Holloway’s iconic move, where he points to the ground and invites his opponent to trade punches in the final seconds, has become a defining moment in many of his fights. The former UFC featherweight champion punctuated his already dominant performance at UFC 300 against Justin Gaethje by pointing to the ground in the final seconds and knocking him out at the 4:59 mark of the fifth round.

However, Ilia Topuria has a different plan for their upcoming clash at UFC 308. The undefeated contender recently claimed he would flip the script by pointing to the ground at the start of the fight, daring Holloway into an early brawl. Addressing Topuria's claims in an interview with Brett Okamoto of ESPN MMA, Holloway said:

"I saw an interview of him [Topuria] saying that: ‘Bring the last 10 seconds to the first 10 seconds of the fight,’ which is his fight IQ might not be there. His athleticism and his power and strength is there, but (he) might be lacking a little bit in fight IQ. So, after saying that, I was like, ‘Brother, you’ve got to go work on your brain, my guy. I mean, there’s reasons, there are opportunities, there are chances you do that kind of stuff. We’ll see what happens.''

Catch Holloway's comments below (11:45):