"That sh*t broke my heart"- Ilia Topuria's former opponent shares honest thoughts on his knockout win against Max Holloway

One of Ilia Topuria's former opponents recently gave his take on 'El Matador's' win over Max Holloway last year. The individual expressed his displeasure with Holloway being knocked out by Topuria, whose belt he's now chasing.

Topuria and Holloway locked horns in the main event of UFC 308 in Abu Dhabi. The former beat Alexander Volkanovski at UFC 298 to win the title, winning via knockout, and did so again in his first title defense against 'Blessed', who was coming off his BMF title-winning KO victory over Justin Gaethje at UFC 300.

This was Holloway's maiden knockout loss, further adding to the lore of Topuria. The Georgian-Spaniard's UFC debut notably came back in 2020 against Youssef Zalal, who recently claimed that seeing Holloway lose was disheartening. On the JAXXON Podcast, Zalal said:

''You knock out Max Holloway bro, like come on bro, like that sh*t broke my heart but fu*k, yeah bro he [Topuria] was the only guy literally I've been chasing since I got kicked out of the UFC and he became a champion and... I have to step my game up bro, there's no way.''

Check out Youssef Zalal's comments below (28:33):

After going 3-3-1 in his first stint in the UFC, Zalal picked up three wins on the regional scene before re-joining the world's premier MMA promotion. 'The Moroccan Devil' is 3-0 in his second UFC stint with three submissions, including victories over Billy Quarantillo and Jack Shore.

---

Youssef Zalal revisits his loss to Ilia Topuria

Youssef Zalal squared off against Ilia Topuria at UFC Fight Night 179 in Abu Dhabi, which marked the latter's octagon debut. 'El Matador' came away with a unanimous decision victory, with all three judges scoring the bout 29-28 in his favor.

In the aforementioned JAXXON Podcast episode, Zalal revisited his bout with Topuria and claimed that the current champion was "gassed out" in the final round:

''The third round he just gassed out, I f**ked him up in the third round. I won the third round but the second round, bro, is like I wish I would have went a little bit more but I was the first guy to ever take him to a decision and that was his first fight in the UFC, after that he went on a tear.'' [27:15]

Who Topuria will face next remains unknown, as he's been quite open about his struggles competing at featherweight. A title rematch with Alexander Volkanovski is rumored, as is a lightweight move. As for Zalal, he is slated to take on No.10-ranked Calvin Kattar in February.