UFC 308 Results: Live Winners and Losers Ilia Topuria vs. Max Holloway Card

It was international day in the UFC.

As is typical when the mixed martial arts conglomerate heads to its middle eastern home in Abu Dhabi, there was a particularly global vibe to the 13-bout card at Etihad Arena whose five-bout main portion was headlined by a featherweight championship grudge match.

Seventeen countries were represented by the 26 fighters on the show.

Reigning champion Ilia Topuria and former champ Max Holloway squared off in the main event for supremacy at 145 pounds. Topuria has held the belt in the weight class since dispatching Alexander Volkanovski earlier this year while Holloway was the top man for more than two years until losing his laurels to Volkanovski in 2019.

The pay-per-view portion was billed as UFC 308 and also included an intriguing middleweight showdown between a former champ in that division, Robert Whittaker, and an unbeaten menace in Khamzat Chimaev, who burst onto the scene during the company's pandemic-driven "Fight Island" days but has fought just four times since 2020.

The B/R combat team was in place to take in all the action and deliver a real-time chronicling of the show's definitive winners and losers. Take a look at what we came up with and drop a thought or two of your own in the comments.

The legendary names were dropped. And Ilia Topuria's compared well with them.

Already an unbeaten MMA fighter when he reached the UFC four years ago, the Georgian-born Spaniard climbed to another level and added another high-profile name in Saturday night's main event–becoming the first opponent to finish Max Holloway when he knocked the ex-champion out in the third round of their featherweight title bout.

Almost instantly, the broadcast team began suggesting how the one-defense king stacked up alongside some of the all-time greats at 145 pounds.

"He had the sort of devastating power that you just don't see in this weight class," analyst Jon Anik said. "Aldo didn't have it. Max didn't have it. Conor McGregor, he was the only one who's had the sort of power that Topuria has shown."

Indeed, the KO is the champion's second straight in a title fight, coming eight months after Topuria dethroned Alexander Volkanovski with a second-round KO.

"It was like when Manny Pacquiao was fighting at 135 and knocking people out," analyst Daniel Cormier said. "It feels like every single fight, this kid improves. It's hard to put words on how good this kid is."

He and Holloway were competitive through two rounds and had landed some punches of substance, but neither was in any imminent danger.

The decisive sequence began about a minute into the third round when Topuria landed a hard right hand that sent Holloway stumbling backward toward the fence. A follow-up flurry ended with a precise left hook that dumped Holloway to the floor, and six subsequent hammer fists drew a rescue from referee Marc Goddard at 1:34.

"The way that he's handled himself in major high-pressure situations and the ways he's performed," analyst Paul Felder said, "unbelievable."

Volkanovski entered the cage after the fight and seems to have the inside track to Topuria's next fight, though third-ranked Diego Lopes weighed in as the backup fighter and was in attendance.

"I wanna have both of them," Topuria said.

He'd been gone just long enough to make people forget.

But here's a reminder: Khamzat Chimaev is a flat-out force to be reckoned with.

He arrived to Saturday's co-main event at 13-0 as a pro and 7-0 in the UFC, and his stock rose to "give that man an immediate title shot" with his performance in that feature fight–a first-round submission of former champion and future Hall of Famer Robert Whittaker.

"I come for a belt," the 30-year-old said. "All the champions are running from me. Dana (White), what's wrong with the UFC, get me the belt."

It sounds a bit hyperbolic. But it was probably understated.

That's how good Chimaev looked against the streaking third-ranked Whittaker, who'd gone 6-2 across eight fights since losing his title to Israel Adesanya in 2019. The New Zealand-born "Reaper" had been perfect in 2024, too, defeating ex-title challenger Paulo Costa by decision in February before stopping Ikram Aliskerov in less than two minutes in June.

Chimaev lunged from halfway across the mat to chase a takedown along the fence against Whittaker, getting him to the ground and instantly working his way toward a submission position. He was able to keep his foe on the ground and ultimately wrapped his left arm around Whittaker's neck, prompting an immediate tap from the beaten man, who told his corner team that he'd suffered a dislocated jaw.

It was over in just 3:34, and it's enough, in the eyes of the broadcast team, to skip the 13th-ranked contender to the head of the line for a shot at champion Dricus du Plessis.

"You jump the line after that one, I think," analyst Paul Felder said.

Felder's colleague, Daniel Cormier, agreed.

"I don't know what you're supposed to do with this guy," he said. "I don't know who would stop him from taking the belt."

Maybe Alex Pereira was watching with some concern on Saturday.

But there didn't seem to be much to worry about.

The light heavyweight title eliminator between No. 1 contender Magomed Ankalaev and fifth-ranked Aleksandar Rakic was designed to graduate the next challenger to the kingpin of the 205-pound division, but it probably did more to cement the Brazilian as its undisputed ruler.

Ankalaev fought to a five-round draw with Jan Blachowicz in a duel for a then-vacant title in 2022 and he'll likely get the next shot thanks to the unanimous verdict he was given after three rounds with Rakic, but his inability to land anything more than intermittent single shots doesn't bode well for a matchup with Pereira, who's three weeks removed from a fourth-round finish of Khalil Rountree Jr.—his third defense by KO since seizing the throne from Jiří Procházka last fall.

Rakic was almost perpetually in motion and only occasionally stopped to land some straight punches and a head kick or two, but he didn't stay stationary long enough to sustain any real offense or land any meaningful strikes to dissuade Magomedov from constant pursuit.

All three judges gave Magomedov two of three rounds and he followed the post-fight script with a Pereira callout that followed him chastising Rakic for a lack of fighting spirit.

"I kept on running after (Rakic) but it was really hard for me to catch him," he said. "I don't want to say anything bad about him but I didn't understand his striking. He wasn't working and he wasn't letting me work against him.

"I think I've done everything to deserve the next title shot. I'd like to tell (Pereira), hey, stop running away from me. That's the fight everyone wants to see."

Just when it looked like Shara Magomedov's unbeaten pro and UFC records were nearing–if not actually in–some peril, he pulled them out of the fire.

With one of the most unique knockouts the promotion has ever seen.

The Dagestani-trained Russian finally landed the maneuver he said he's been training for years, rendering opponent Armen Petrosyan unable to continue with a combination of spinning back fists with just eight seconds remaining in the second round of the main-card opener.

"When I started training muay thai, this was the first thing I was shown," he said. "I trained it and trained it and trained it, but I could never land it. I landed it today. This is my show now."

Magomedov feinted with a left kick before pivoting and drilling his advancing opponent with a spinning right back fist, then spun another 180 degrees in the other direction and hit Petrosyan with a spinning left fist that drew a stop from referee Kerry Hatley.

It was the 11th spinning back fist KO in company history.

It was Magomedov's 15th straight win as a pro and fourth straight in the UFC and immediately prompted him to take aim at a former middleweight champion.

"I'm the best striker in this division," he said. "I'll smash Israel Adesanya. Dana White, I came for my gold."

You're forgiven if you're unfamiliar with his work.

After all, Turkish light heavyweight Ibo Aslan had only made one appearance in the UFC after a win on Dana White's Contender Series, and even though he was in the prelim finale on Saturday's card he was fighting another unknown in promotional newbie Rafael Cerqueira.

But there's a good chance you'll hear from him again soon.

The towering 205-pounder engineered the quickest finish on the eight-fight undercard, rattling his unbeaten foe with a hard lead left hook and following with nearly two dozen more unanswered shots before referee Marc Goddard jumped in to save Cerqueira after just 51 seconds.

Aslan's already got top-15-worthy microphone chops.

"Abu Dhabi," he screamed to the crowd as analyst Daniel Cormier arrived for a post-fight chat, "do you like Turkish power?"

The 6'3" slugger stopped Paulo Renato Jr. at just 2:22 of Round 1 on the Contender Series 14 months ago and finished Anton Turkalj at 1:32 of Round 3 on a Fight Night show in March, so the Cerqueira wipeout lifted him to 14-1 with 14 KOs.

"After the left hand landed, I watched him in the eyes, he went like this (rolling his eyes backward), and I just crashed," he said. "I have Turkish power in my hands. If I touch somebody, he's already dead. I am coming for all of you. For all of you men. For all of you."

It's neither the ending, nor the birthday, that Rafael Dos Anjos was looking for.

The now-40-year-old ex-lightweight champion hasn't officially announced plans for what remains of his MMA career, but it may have taken a giant step toward the finish line thanks to a left knee injury suffered in what became a first-round TKO loss to Geoff Neal.

Already the oldest fighter on the card, the Brazilian made the earliest exit, too, when his stay ended after just 90 seconds. Neal dropped him awkwardly to the floor with a hard left hand about a minute in, then, after Dos Anjos rose, a subsequent tie-up saw him crumble again holding the knee.

He was heard on cage-side microphones suggesting he heard a "pop" and he was helped from the cage and back to the locker room before the final result was announced.

Dos Anjos debuted in 2004 and reached the UFC four years later.

He was a champion at 155 pounds after beating Anthony Pettis at UFC 185 in 2015 and defended once, but had gone just 7-9 including the title loss to Eddie Alvarez in 2016.

His most recent win, in fact, came via second-round submission over Bryan Barberena in December 2022 but had since been followed by unanimous decision losses to Mateusz Gamrot and Vicente Luque.

"I was watching him when I was in high school," Neal said. "It was an honor to step in the cage with him. I hope he heals up."

If you didn't know, now you know: These UFC guys are a different breed.

Fighting at a 160-pound catchweight, veteran brawlers Mateusz Rębecki and Myktybek Orolbai pushed one another to the limit–and perhaps beyond–while going the full 15-minute distance in the bloodiest and most punishing fight on the undercard.

Rębecki was awarded a split decision after all three judges scored it 29-28, two in his favor, but neither came away unscathed. Orolbai's right eye was reduced to a slit thanks to a golf ball-sized swelling on his cheekbone, while Rębecki bled like a stuck pig from a large gash over his right eye. The canvas was plastered red as a result, too, and the winner was still gasping as he made his way through a post-fight interview with analyst Daniel Cormier.

"This was the most important fight for me," he said, "because last time I lost."

Indeed, Rębecki was coming off a third-round TKO by Diego Ferreira on a Fight Night show in May that dropped him to 3-1 in the company. He seemed to have Orolbai on the verge of a TKO loss after rattling him with a hard left early in the third, but had to endure several hard shots himself down the stretch after the Kyrgyzstan native rallied.

"I trained really hard so I could be here and give a good fight," Rębecki said. "He's a really tough guy."

Abus Magomedov showed all elements of his MMA game on Saturday.

The sculpted 34-year-old German arrived to his fifth UFC appearance in the best shape of his 14-year pro career, then fared well as both an offensive force and a defensive scrambler in a middleweight scrap with Brunno Ferreira that also tested his gas tank limit.

Magomedov controlled the action from a distance to begin, countered Ferreira's second-round power shots with well-timed takedowns, then got the fight to the floor again in the third and ultimately worked the Brazilian into position for the arm triangle that ended things at 3:14.

It was his second straight octagonal win and third overall since arriving to the company two years ago, a stint that's also included dates with top-five 185-pounders Sean Strickland and Caio Borralho.

"I'm really happy," he said. "Just for the moment."

It was the first third-round action in 14 pro fights for Ferreira, who'd won nine times by KO and three by submission while never going longer than six minutes, and three seconds. He quickly tapped once Magomedov landed his fourth takedown of the fight and immediately went to top mount while trapping Ferreira's right arm.

"We try it always in the training and the preparation," Magomedov said. "This is one of my favorite chokes, and I knew before he went to the side that it was done for him."

Farid Basharat didn't have to take the fight.

The unbeaten Afghan was on track to hit the number for what was supposed to be a bantamweight matchup with streaking Brazilian foe Victor Hugo, who put the contest in peril when he weighed in far north of the division's traditional 136-pound non-title limit.

But rather than head back home without a paycheck, the 27-year-old Basharat stayed in town and agreed to move matters up to featherweight–then was busier, sharper and more effective than his heavier foe in pounding out a unanimous decision in the show's third bout.

A pro since 2018 and in the UFC since an appearance on Dana White's Contender Series two years ago, Basharat worked well from distance in the first round and was more aggressive in the second while running up a comfortable margin in strikes and eluding all but one of Hugo's takedown attempts.

He managed to escape Hugo's tries at a leg-lock submission in the second, too, and shook off a flying knee early in the third to win by scores of 30-27, 29-28 and 29-28.

It's his 13th win overall and fourth straight with the company and figures to get him closer to a ranking number at his home weight, which he referred to after the victory was official.

"Remember my name," he said. "Put some respect on my name. Next week I need to be ranked. I deserve it."

When opportunity knocked, Carlos Leal answered.

The 30-year-old Brazilian was in the area and set to fight for another promotion when the UFC call came seeking a short-notice foe for rising welterweight menace Rinat Fakhretdinov.

Leal's training team coach took the other fight and left his charge to enter the octagonal fray on Saturday morning (U.S. time), which he did in style with what appeared to be a clear-cut–if not outright dominant–victory over the Russian who'd entered on a 22-fight unbeaten run.

But the judges didn't agree.

In a decision that could charitably be described as dubious, Leal instead came out on the short end of a pair of 29-28 scores and another that had it 30-27, somehow giving all three rounds to the fighter who was out-landed by nearly 30 strikes and unsuccessful on 17 of 19 takedown tries.

B/R saw it 30-27 for Leal and the broadcast team was on the side of the official loser as well, taking judge Hadi Mohamed Ali to task for his shutout scoring.

"I don't even know what to say about one judge giving all three rounds to Rinat Fakhretdinov," analyst Paul Felder said. "That's really bad. That's a really bad decision. He didn't win that fight. I don't get it. That's just bad. There's no way in the world that that's 30-27 for that fight."

Main Card

Ilia Topuria def. Max Holloway by KO (punches), 1:34, Round 3

Khamzat Chimaev def. Robert Whittaker by submission (rear-naked choke), 3:34, Round 1

Magomed Ankalaev def. Aleksandar Rakic by unanimous decision (29-28, 29-28, 29-28)

Lerone Murphy def. Dan Ige by unanimous decision (29-28, 29-28, 29-28)

Shara Magomedov def. Armen Petrosyan by TKO (spinning back fist), 4:52, Round 2

Preliminary Card

Ibo Aslan def. Rafael Cerqueira by TKO (punches), 0:51, Round 1

Geoff Neal def. Rafael Dos Anjos by TKO (injury), 1:30, Round 1

Mateusz Rębecki def. Myktybek Orolbai by split decision (28-29, 29-28, 29-28)

Abus Magomedov def. Brunno Ferreira by submission (arm triangle), 3:14, Round 3

Kennedy Nzechukwu def. Chris Barnett by TKO (knee), 4:27, Round 1

Farid Basharat def. Victor Hugo by unanimous decision (30-27, 29-28, 29-28)

Ismail Naurdiev def. Bruno Silva by unanimous decision (30-27, 30-27, 30-27)

Rinat Fakhretdinov def. Carlos Leal by unanimous decision (29-28, 29-28, 30-27)