Undefeated UFC featherweight champion Ilia Topuria makes the first defense of his title against former champ Max Holloway in the main event of UFC 308 on Saturday in Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates.
The main card at Etihad Arena is on ESPN+ pay-per-view at 2 p.m. ET, preceded by prelims on ESPN+ at 10 a.m.
Topuria (15-0) won the belt in February with a second-round knockout of Alexander Volkanovski . Topuria is No. 3 in the ESPN pound-for-pound men's rankings .
The 10th-ranked Holloway (26-7), who reigned from June 2017 until December 2019, has won three fights in a row, most recently a KO of Justin Gaethje at 4:59 of the fifth round in their April bout at lightweight.
What are the storylines behind the top fights at UFC 308? How are experts breaking them down? What do the fighters have to say? Here is the fight card, how to watch it and a collection of all of the UFC 308 essentials.
How to watch the fights
Watch the pay-per-view and prelims on ESPN+: Get ESPN+ here .
There's also FightCenter , which offers live updates for every UFC card.
UFC 308 fight card
ESPN+ PPV, 2 p.m. ET
Featherweight championship: Ilia Topuria (c) vs. Max Holloway
Middleweight: Robert Whittaker vs. Khamzat Chimaev
Featherweight: Lerone Murphy vs. Dan Ige
Light heavyweight: Magomed Ankalaev vs. Aleksandar Rakic
Middleweight: Shara Magomedov vs. Armen Petrosyan
ESPN+, 10 a.m. ET
Welterweight: Geoff Neal vs. Rafael Dos Anjos
Lightweight: Mateusz Rebecki vs. Myktybek Orolbai
Men's bantamweight: Said Nurmagomedov vs. Daniel Santos
Middleweight: Abus Magomedov vs. Brunno Ferreira
Heavyweight: Kennedy Nzechukwu vs. Chris Barnett
Men's bantamweight: Farid Basharat vs. Victor Hugo
Middleweight: Ismail Naurdiev vs. Bruno Silva
Welterweight: Rinat Fakhretdinov vs. Nursulton Ruziboev
Light heavyweight: Ibo Aslan vs. Rafael Cerqueira
(c) = defending champion
UFC 308 first look: Big questions on Topuria-Holloway, Chimaev's return, more
Ilia Topuria seized the moment at UFC 298 when he faced one of the featherweight GOATs, Alexander Volkanovski. Topuria dethroned Volkanovski in February and became the 145-pound champion. Eight months later, Topuria will now take on arguably the other featherweight GOAT, as Max Holloway will look to regain his title.
Andreas Hale, Brett Okamoto and Jeff Wagenheim offer their first thoughts, analysis and predictions on UFC 308.
Read the story.
Best active MMA knockout artists across weight classes
Maybe we should put something extra on the line when Holloway challenges Topuria on Oct. 26. In addition to the UFC featherweight championship, how about we also break a tie and proclaim the winner as the top KO artist at 145 pounds?. That can be the case, of course, only if the guy who walks out of the cage with the belt has secured the win via knockout. And it'll be a significant achievement if it happens, as Topuria is undefeated and Holloway has never been knocked out in 33 pro fights.
Read the story.
2024 MMA midyear awards: Unanimous winners, rare submissions and epic knockouts
There will never be a consensus "greatest knockout in UFC history," but Holloway's KO of Justin Gaethje at UFC 300 in April might be the most popular pick. Standing in the center of the Octagon in the final seconds of a five-round fight he was clearly winning and sleeping Gaethje -- it was just all Holloway. It defined Holloway as a fighter and a person. The fact it happened up a weight class in a BMF title fight couldn't have been any more perfect.
Read the story.
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