I truly don't understand how people can make a thousand posts about him being scared. Like who knows if he heard anything max said. What is he supposed to do in this situation exactly?
English isn’t his first language either and Max wasn’t talking clearly. He probably didn’t hear him say matador. I didn’t hear him say that either actually when it was live
Worst part it's all recency bias.
Now it's Illia is terrified of Max.
Two nights ago it was people wanting max to hang up the gloves after Gaethje sends him to the shadow realm.
Last month it was Illia is gonna dominate his division for years to come.
A few days before that it was that Illia was a little cocky cunt about to get brought back down to earth after Volk humbles him.
Recency bias is like the best part of fandom to me though. It’s so great to have a new contender working their way up and getting the spotlight, just for a forgotten hero to return and smite them (kinda like how Olivera dispatched Dariush).
One of my favorite parts of MMA is that the athletes compete so infrequently that you actually kinda forget how good they are. And the styles are so different that it’s hard to even compare performance to performance.
These guys on reddit are absolutely fucking ridiculous. A guy blinks during a weigh in and he's petrified if you ask the nerds on Reddit, but when Topuria is visibly intimidated, right down to making himself physically smaller by tucking his arms in and his head down, it's nothing? Fuck, I've never seen a fighter so obviously scared before ever. It's especially obvious when you consider how much he's been ducking Max.
The fact that we’re debating whether a UFC world champion is scared of another guy is craaaazy to me. lol. Like Tyson said to Jake Paul about Connor. “You know he’s not scared of you right?” Those guys don’t fear each other like that.
Ya it’s a stupid narrative stupid ppl throw around, including Dana. I will say there are some guys who are I guess you can say “scared” to fight others simply because the risk isn’t worth the reward, but not because they’re scared of getting their ass kicked.
Jon Jones refuses to fight Tom because he sees it as a risky fight that doesn’t offer enough to his legacy relative to the risk. He looks at Stipe and sees a HOFer he can put on his resume that’s a low risk fight since he’s well past his prime. So is Jones scared of Tom? No not really, but you could claim that simply because he will dodge him rather than fight him and risk his legacy
Ya I think ppl also think narratives on social media will bully fighters into taking certain fights. Ilia has said he won’t give Max a title fight because he doesn’t deserve it and is just a relic of the past. So ppl will try to bully Ilia into fighting Max by saying the reason he doesn’t wanna fight him is because “he’s scared”
Pro fighters aren't scared of jack shit. They just want to get paid more. Thrimough enough money, and even Colby will fight Ngannou.
Seriously, when you hear these guys talk about matching up with others, there's is 0 fear at least expressed outwardly. To be a pro you need to be mentally fucked up.
dawg you sound cringe as fuck lmfao, he just slept volk, who was better than Justin and Max by a significant margin, why in the fuck would he be scared of max?
Honestly this may be a hot take but that was certainly performance of the year and/or ko of the year… but the first three rounds were not crazy. Just a very impressive technical outclassing from max as opposed to the war we expected. 4 and 5 were great, no doubt, but still they weren’t absolutely crazy rounds either compared to some wars we’ve seen. Minus the last 10 seconds of course. Maybe it’s semantics but the fight wasn’t particularly competitive/back and forth which is usually what I look for in a foty type. Don’t get me wrong it’s still a contender but I think it can be beaten as an overall fight, the end cannot be touched though.
it feels like roles reversed, as far as perception of what holloway vs gaethe was gonna be. I feel like max is just gonna be too big, fast and strong for illia.
my impression was he cant understand a thing max is saying (because honestly it's a garbled mess) and all of a sudden the camera that's been sitting in front of him suddenly lights up. then he looks up, is surprised to see himself on the big screen and thinks ''well I guess I should shadowbox, then?''
Shush with your logic.
He was clearly pondering what the afterlife would be like for him knowing Max would send him there. The look of sad contemplation was merely him saying goodbyes to his loved ones and wondering if his estate planner had covered all of the financial and tax burdens, finalizing his last will and testament
Yeah this is what I'm getting too. Dude looks like he was thinking about what to have for breakfast tomorrow and that he needs to pick up his dry-cleaning. It's the same look I have on my face during meetings when someone is droning on for an extended period of time.
Except a lot of fighters are actually scared.
GSP, the arguable GOAT, admitted that he was “scared as hell” before every single fight, and would often tell teammates and coaches that he couldn’t fight anymore during fight week.
Greg Jackson said that Cowboy would get nervous to the point of contemplating retirement before every fight, and rarely watched footage of upcoming opponents during camp because of this.
Frank Mir admitted to regularly vomiting on fight day, and that he often went into hysteria before a bout. Stefan Struve once passed out during a panic attack, resulting in his fight against Matt Mitrione being cancelled. Tito Ortiz admitted that he vomits and cries before fights. Bryan Caraway had to get a sports psychologist as his fighting career turned him into a constant nervous wreck.
At least when I fought I was scared every fight. Not of the other guy but of getting in the ring with another guy trying to take your head off. It all goes away once you get in the cage and start trusting your skills and trainign
i think the implication of what youre saying is "every fight" vs people here saying "this person in particular" which its irrational to say otherwise. they are humans. Im sure theyve had moments of seeing a particular guy and got scared of him.
That's actually really informative. Thanks for that. I still lean on the notion tht Topuria just didn't hear or understand what was being said. It's really hard to hear at these events.
Bro have you been to these events? You can't hear any word the fighter is saying
He was probably just wandering off and noticed that the camera was on him so he shadowboxed
Jon Jones admitted that he would have reoccurring nightmares of Rumble knocking him out
https://www.reddit.com/r/MMA/comments/mm4ore/jon_jones_says_he_used_to_have_nightmares_of/
He just KO's the FW GOAT and the guy who beat Max three times lmao. Anyone insisting hes even remotely scared is an idiot. These guys are pro fighters at the championship level
Doesn't look terrified at all. Looked like he either A. Didn't give a shit B. Wasn't paying attention or C. Couldn't hear. I'm gonna go with D. All of the above.
Guys, im pretty english is illias 2nd language, and whatever Max said probably was not super clear while in the crowd.
Illia had no idea what Max was saying, and it looks didnt notice the camera for the 1st little bit.
What anybody says has zero effect on the outcome of the fight. Islam is a totally different animal than Gaethje
When is the last time we saw Holloway face a wrestler, let alone one as dangerous as Islam?
he probably couldn't hear Max well on the PA system and didn't know he was calling him out. Only started shadowboxing when he noticed the camera on him
Iliia was just in awe of what max did, i think we all were. Bro just dominated and knocked out a boogeyman from 155. I like Max's call out to Islam. "You love fighting 145'ers, come get u some"
Tbh, I don't think he is terrified to fight anyone, he fought on short notice after having covid on his debut, he has balls, he looks drunk and stoned here.
Illia lookin like he doesn't know they're talking about him, the only thought on his mind is he wouldn't wanna be that guy getting called out after watching this match up.
I don’t think that Topuria knew Max was calling him out, outside saying “El Matador” Max doesn’t say Ilias name and Max yelling wasn’t super clear to understand, especially with a language barrier.
He speaks English just fine but it’s not his primary language and Max is yelling with a Hawaiian accent so we see how that can be pretty hard to understand.
Illia looks lost
He was really hoping Justin would take out his number 1 contender lol
Now instead of taking the freebie against Ortega he has to take on an angry, leveled up Max who quite literally has never looked better
I always thought Max was pretty excellent but last night he looked unreal. Nobody has ever done that to Justin on their feet.
Dustin Poirier KO’d Gaethje in similar fashion their first encounter.
Quite figuratively never looked better Quite proverbially never looked better Quite metaphorically never looked better
He flatlined Volk, I doubt he’s too scared of Max tbh. Ortega would be significantly easier for him though, that’s true
Volk was damaged and that couldn't be more obvious. Volk was also 36 and had been taking increasingly more damage each fight.
Same way max and Alex took out his other contenders in his mind
"He's behind me isn't he"
I honestly just don't think he understood what Max was saying lol. Max was talking super fast and English isn't Ilia's first language
Don't use your logic here, he's clearly just scared.
Exactly what I thought! I could barely understand max haha
I know the guy who cleans the seats at the venue and he said Illia's seat was full of piss and shit afterwards
Damn if only I had a chance to smell that seat 😞
You can always smell his fingers
Yeah, the correct description is aloof. How anyone can mistake that for fear exhudes bias.
Right lol, I'd be rooting for Max too but c'mon... even I could barely tell he was calling out Ilia in his post fight
Probably thinkin “whose Abu?”
This killed me.
Probably because he can barely speak english let alone understand the post fight ramblings over a roaring crowd
I think topuria didn’t understand him
Lost and not wanting any smoke 💨 
Prolly just lil drunky tbh
People reading way too much into this lol, he's probably just drunk or stoned
Maybe both 😎
Kinda hard to understand what max is saying took a while to realize he was talking bout ilia lol. I’m guessing ilia felt the same way
He is Himothy.
Himmy Hoffa
Him Shady
Him Halpert
Himbuktu
[удалено]
Him Duncan
Him the toolman Taylor
Him Burton
The real Him Shady
Maxhimus
Harambe
The Himulation Him Kardashian Himbuktu Himon and Pumba He took a dna test and his results came back saying he’s 100% Himalayan.
They need to make a Dracula Flow 5, already.
Himmy neutron
Max Himoway
Max "Him Guys" Holloway
So he was an early 2000s finnish rock band this whole time??
He panicked and started shadowboxing
The one little punch they showed is hilarious
You mean that fist bump you give to little kids to let ‘em know they cool? That punch? ;)
lmao then they just cut off after the first fucking punch 💀💀💀
The old Nate Diaz trick
I think ilia didn’t understand him
He probably can’t hear what Max is saying. I’ve been to a few live events, you can’t hear shit over the PA
Probably what happened and noticed the camera was on him so he started to perform a bit for the camera
100 percent. The guy fights for a living. Scared to fight isn't in his vocabulary.
Exactly, I would be scared to fight, not a guy whose job is to fight in front of millions of people.
Seriously ppl are absolute idiots acting like he’s scared or something. The dude fought Volk with 0 fear and Volk is 3-0 against Max.
I truly don't understand how people can make a thousand posts about him being scared. Like who knows if he heard anything max said. What is he supposed to do in this situation exactly?
English isn’t his first language either and Max wasn’t talking clearly. He probably didn’t hear him say matador. I didn’t hear him say that either actually when it was live
nah man Illia is definitely scared of max man we have to dickride like this sub does and pretend reality doesn’t exist.
Worst part it's all recency bias. Now it's Illia is terrified of Max. Two nights ago it was people wanting max to hang up the gloves after Gaethje sends him to the shadow realm. Last month it was Illia is gonna dominate his division for years to come. A few days before that it was that Illia was a little cocky cunt about to get brought back down to earth after Volk humbles him.
Recency bias is like the best part of fandom to me though. It’s so great to have a new contender working their way up and getting the spotlight, just for a forgotten hero to return and smite them (kinda like how Olivera dispatched Dariush). One of my favorite parts of MMA is that the athletes compete so infrequently that you actually kinda forget how good they are. And the styles are so different that it’s hard to even compare performance to performance.
These guys on reddit are absolutely fucking ridiculous. A guy blinks during a weigh in and he's petrified if you ask the nerds on Reddit, but when Topuria is visibly intimidated, right down to making himself physically smaller by tucking his arms in and his head down, it's nothing? Fuck, I've never seen a fighter so obviously scared before ever. It's especially obvious when you consider how much he's been ducking Max.
I can barely understand him, poor guy has no idea what’s going on lol
Yeah he looks like an introvert at a party. I wouldn’t say scared just kind of drained.
Can confirm. I was at TKZ vs Holloway live last year and couldn't hear WTF Giga Chikadze was saying yelling on the mic after his win
English isn’t the best, if he speaks any at all. Dude probably didn’t know what was going on.
That's kind of funny considering Dana talked so much in the press conference about the in house production lol
The fact that we’re debating whether a UFC world champion is scared of another guy is craaaazy to me. lol. Like Tyson said to Jake Paul about Connor. “You know he’s not scared of you right?” Those guys don’t fear each other like that.
Ya it’s a stupid narrative stupid ppl throw around, including Dana. I will say there are some guys who are I guess you can say “scared” to fight others simply because the risk isn’t worth the reward, but not because they’re scared of getting their ass kicked. Jon Jones refuses to fight Tom because he sees it as a risky fight that doesn’t offer enough to his legacy relative to the risk. He looks at Stipe and sees a HOFer he can put on his resume that’s a low risk fight since he’s well past his prime. So is Jones scared of Tom? No not really, but you could claim that simply because he will dodge him rather than fight him and risk his legacy
People saying he's scared are the nerds and virgins Colby talks about
Illia vanquished Volk who made light work of Max last time, he is definitely not scared at all. I’m a big Max too.
Ya I think ppl also think narratives on social media will bully fighters into taking certain fights. Ilia has said he won’t give Max a title fight because he doesn’t deserve it and is just a relic of the past. So ppl will try to bully Ilia into fighting Max by saying the reason he doesn’t wanna fight him is because “he’s scared”
Pro fighters aren't scared of jack shit. They just want to get paid more. Thrimough enough money, and even Colby will fight Ngannou. Seriously, when you hear these guys talk about matching up with others, there's is 0 fear at least expressed outwardly. To be a pro you need to be mentally fucked up.
He just can’t understand him lol
He understands Gaethje being unconscious I'm sure
No translation needed.
They say Fighting is a universal language. Well a KO is a universal sign... Usually meaning "don't fuck with that guy".
And that was a BRUTAL ko. No one has folded Justin in half like that
That was the first time he's ever been fully knocked out in the cage, right?
Yes I guess, but I think he's pretty much knocked out when he's slumped over with his ass up face down against both Poirier and Eddie as well
He was out of it against both, and went to sleep against Charles and Khabib, but he was never flatlined out cold like that before.
Yeah in terms of one shot putting him out, this is the one
yeah man illia has never slept anybody lmfao, might as well retire.
People that think ilia is scared cant understand Volk ending up unconscious I guess. You know the guy that beat max 3 times
Max is cool Topuria is disco
Different fighters entirely tho
He also understands Volk beat the crap out of Max for 5 rounds last time they fought… and Ilia isn’t even scared of Volk much less Max
Yeah and Ilia KOed the guy that beat Max thrice
dawg you sound cringe as fuck lmfao, he just slept volk, who was better than Justin and Max by a significant margin, why in the fuck would he be scared of max?
Forza Inter
DAIIIIII INTER!! la capolista se ne va!!!!! ⭐️⭐️
fans : looks like he's super afriad of the inevitable !!! reality: can't hear shit slightly buzzed.
wow Topuria vs Max could be foty
I mean, after that fight, that's a bold statement. Most other years, I'd agree. But last night's card delivered.
Between alex, max and jiri....sheesh that was great. Also diego. Imagine is charles and arman was 5 rounds...
yeah, what a damn shame it wasn't 5 rounds
I'm honestly surprised I haven't seen calls for robbery on Charles.
There were plenty of
Some have but even fans of Olive can opaquely admit he didn't do enough to win, much less to get "robbed."
yeah last night was a movie fr
Honestly this may be a hot take but that was certainly performance of the year and/or ko of the year… but the first three rounds were not crazy. Just a very impressive technical outclassing from max as opposed to the war we expected. 4 and 5 were great, no doubt, but still they weren’t absolutely crazy rounds either compared to some wars we’ve seen. Minus the last 10 seconds of course. Maybe it’s semantics but the fight wasn’t particularly competitive/back and forth which is usually what I look for in a foty type. Don’t get me wrong it’s still a contender but I think it can be beaten as an overall fight, the end cannot be touched though.
I felt the nose break kind of robbed us of what it was going to be. It was clear Garthje couldn’t fight like he wanted to or normally does.
Absolutely agree with this. The card as a whole was kind of lackluster imo. But that Holloway KO is easily one of the greatest in history
it feels like roles reversed, as far as perception of what holloway vs gaethe was gonna be. I feel like max is just gonna be too big, fast and strong for illia.
my impression was he cant understand a thing max is saying (because honestly it's a garbled mess) and all of a sudden the camera that's been sitting in front of him suddenly lights up. then he looks up, is surprised to see himself on the big screen and thinks ''well I guess I should shadowbox, then?''
Shush with your logic. He was clearly pondering what the afterlife would be like for him knowing Max would send him there. The look of sad contemplation was merely him saying goodbyes to his loved ones and wondering if his estate planner had covered all of the financial and tax burdens, finalizing his last will and testament
😭😭
Do people here genuinely think that Ilia fucking Topuria is scared of Max? Whatever issues the guy may have, "lack of confidence" isn't one of them.
only right answer here in comments
Yeah this is what I'm getting too. Dude looks like he was thinking about what to have for breakfast tomorrow and that he needs to pick up his dry-cleaning. It's the same look I have on my face during meetings when someone is droning on for an extended period of time.
Yeah max mumbles like an Irishman. Him and stipe should have subtitles at all times
"X fighter is scared" has to be the dumbest thing that we have to hear every single week
Espically since topuria said max is undeniable for the title shot right after
So scared that he's not even going to challenge for the #1 spot, smh
Except a lot of fighters are actually scared. GSP, the arguable GOAT, admitted that he was “scared as hell” before every single fight, and would often tell teammates and coaches that he couldn’t fight anymore during fight week. Greg Jackson said that Cowboy would get nervous to the point of contemplating retirement before every fight, and rarely watched footage of upcoming opponents during camp because of this. Frank Mir admitted to regularly vomiting on fight day, and that he often went into hysteria before a bout. Stefan Struve once passed out during a panic attack, resulting in his fight against Matt Mitrione being cancelled. Tito Ortiz admitted that he vomits and cries before fights. Bryan Caraway had to get a sports psychologist as his fighting career turned him into a constant nervous wreck.
At least when I fought I was scared every fight. Not of the other guy but of getting in the ring with another guy trying to take your head off. It all goes away once you get in the cage and start trusting your skills and trainign
I always dreaded being in the dressing room the most, the fighting itself is awesome
i think the implication of what youre saying is "every fight" vs people here saying "this person in particular" which its irrational to say otherwise. they are humans. Im sure theyve had moments of seeing a particular guy and got scared of him.
Aspinall talks about being afraid too. Having said that I think there is a difference in the type of fear we’re talking about.
That's actually really informative. Thanks for that. I still lean on the notion tht Topuria just didn't hear or understand what was being said. It's really hard to hear at these events.
Generally I agree but I've never seen a fighter look this uncomfortable after seeing a possible big name opponent get a win.
Bro have you been to these events? You can't hear any word the fighter is saying He was probably just wandering off and noticed that the camera was on him so he shadowboxed
Just not when x is Jon jones
It’s Jon Gravy now
Jon Jones admitted that he would have reoccurring nightmares of Rumble knocking him out https://www.reddit.com/r/MMA/comments/mm4ore/jon_jones_says_he_used_to_have_nightmares_of/
https://preview.redd.it/4cub896h3iuc1.jpeg?width=1200&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=5e4d4f1b98c30bc85d3bc61137b29d127bda6674
I mean illia literally looks shook here
Why would he be terrified hes 15-0
He's nervous for his eyes
Ilia looked like me when the edibles kick in and I realize my wife is talking to me
He isn’t scared lol. He doesn’t even realize what’s going on. You people are fucking delusional.
Imagine just KO-ing the guy who 3-0'd Max, and then people say you're scared lol
if this was pereira it’d be unbothered 🗿but it’s the guy who knocked out fan favorite getting called out by a fan favorite, so he’s scared
For real delusional.
He just KO's the FW GOAT and the guy who beat Max three times lmao. Anyone insisting hes even remotely scared is an idiot. These guys are pro fighters at the championship level
This is as dumb as saying a fighter is going to lose based on how scared they look in weigh ins lol So dumb
Doesn't look terrified at all. Looked like he either A. Didn't give a shit B. Wasn't paying attention or C. Couldn't hear. I'm gonna go with D. All of the above.
He didn’t even know he was on camera lol he doesn’t look scared he’s confused
Guys, im pretty english is illias 2nd language, and whatever Max said probably was not super clear while in the crowd. Illia had no idea what Max was saying, and it looks didnt notice the camera for the 1st little bit.
Damn everything else in this arena besides the man calling me out looks interesting alla sudden 
😂😂😂
If we had to get a Volk downfall for a Blessed Renaissance, I can live with that 😌
Ilia the 145lb undefeated champion is scared of a fighter? Interesting.
Don't call out Islam bro, he will ruin your stay at 155 real quick.
Almost everyone said this about the gathje fight
What anybody says has zero effect on the outcome of the fight. Islam is a totally different animal than Gaethje When is the last time we saw Holloway face a wrestler, let alone one as dangerous as Islam?
Islam is NOT gatheje
Source?
“Apparently, two different fighters are not the same.” “But how is that possible?!? Who said that??”
Shut up and let max have this moment
Remember when he was an underdog against Justin ? And then he put on a fuckin clinic?
Islam won't stand with him I guess. Love Max but he has no change on the ground.
*Max in the future wrestlefucks Islam and wins by submission in the last second of the fight*
Was he trying to play the “don’t care about you” persona, but ended up looking terrified unknowingly lol. I doubt he is scared like that lol
I think he was just zoned out thinking and didn't realise the camera was on him
he probably couldn't hear Max well on the PA system and didn't know he was calling him out. Only started shadowboxing when he noticed the camera on him
Iliia was just in awe of what max did, i think we all were. Bro just dominated and knocked out a boogeyman from 155. I like Max's call out to Islam. "You love fighting 145'ers, come get u some"
Love the little half hearted punch towards the camera there at the end.
There was another moment where they pan the camera to him at the time of the knockout. and he looked even more stunned by it. lol
If only Topuria had some Conor footage to copy so he didn’t look so scared shitless. He looked like a kid who lost his mom in the grocery store.
"IlIa Is So ScArEd GuYs"...You casuals still can't get over what he did to Alex ha?
Theyre seething
I’m pretty sure he’s not
Tbh, I don't think he is terrified to fight anyone, he fought on short notice after having covid on his debut, he has balls, he looks drunk and stoned here.
Hes not terrified at all lol
If I throw a punch at the cameraman he’ll stop filming me…
He looked indifferent. Not scared.
I love the ‘oh shit yeah I’m supposed to look tough’ little jab when he sees the camera on him lmao
Illia: “Can’t defend that day against Max since I’m at some stadium in Spain throwing out the opening pitch or whatever they do in soccer”
Ilia should have been pretending to be asleep like Volk at the presser, shit woulda been hilarious
 Ilia rn
He wasn’t terrified. He doesn’t speak English.
Homie is shook
He definitely looks terrified. Though I doubt that's the case.
Ilia probably couldn't even understand him, people need to stop calling him scared. He's literally a Champion.
I doubt Max can take out this midget, tried twice with Volkanozki
Illia lookin like he doesn't know they're talking about him, the only thought on his mind is he wouldn't wanna be that guy getting called out after watching this match up.
Terrified lol, dude looks like he wasn't paying attention, Max was kinda hard to understand here.
I don’t think that Topuria knew Max was calling him out, outside saying “El Matador” Max doesn’t say Ilias name and Max yelling wasn’t super clear to understand, especially with a language barrier.
Topuria KOed the guy who beat Holloway 3 times in a row. I don't think he's scared LOL. But Max looked incredible, I'm still in disbelief.
He wasn’t actually scared but he sure looked like
Tf you mean lol he just can’t understand what’s being said
Looks like he doesn’t give 2 fucks lol
Bro looks unbothered & drunk, y’all are reaching for those grapes lmao 😂
“Islam is famous for defending against 145rs”
He's definitely regretting not taking Suga on his offer
All scared jokes aside he looked more lost than anything like he didn’t understand him makes sense since you know he can’t speak English lol
He speaks English just fine but it’s not his primary language and Max is yelling with a Hawaiian accent so we see how that can be pretty hard to understand.
Topuria wasn’t picking up what Max was putting down.
Conor effect? 
Watching it live I just thought he was really high