{"id":39152,"date":"2026-07-08T04:28:32","date_gmt":"2026-07-08T04:28:32","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.sherdog.com\/news\/news\/Max-Holloway-explains-why-Justin-Gaethjes-win-over-Ilia-Topuria-shocked-him-201803"},"modified":"2026-07-08T04:28:32","modified_gmt":"2026-07-08T04:28:32","slug":"max-holloway-explains-why-justin-gaethjes-win-over-ilia-topuria-shocked-him","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.martialartskleinanzeigen.com\/videos\/max-holloway-explains-why-justin-gaethjes-win-over-ilia-topuria-shocked-him\/","title":{"rendered":"Max Holloway explains why Justin Gaethje\u2019s win over Ilia Topuria shocked him"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
<\/div>\n

Max
\nHolloway<\/a> wasn\u2019t shocked by the outcome of Ilia
\nTopuria<\/a> vs. Justin
\nGaethje<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Topuria was a massive favorite when he put his
\nUltimate Fighting Championship<\/a> lightweight title on the line
\nagainst interim champion Gaethje at
\nUFC Freedom 250<\/a>. After battling through a body shot in the
\nsecond round, the latter rallied in the third and fourth rounds to
\npile on the damage, prompting a corner stoppage before the
\nfifth.<\/p>\n

\n

Advertisement<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

Max Holloway breaks down Justin Gaethje\u2019s boxing performance
\nagainst Ilia Topuria<\/h2>\n

Having faced both fighters, Holloway wasn\u2019t surprised by the result
\nof the last lightweight fight. He was, in fact, caught off guard by
\nhow Gaethje was largely being counted out. However, what left the
\nformer featherweight and BMF champion stunned was the way Gaethje
\nhanded \u201cEl Matador\u201d his first professional loss.<\/p>\n

While \u201cBlessed\u201d believed Gaethje could win, he thought \u201cThe
\nHighlight\u201d would use his signature leg kicks. Seeing his compatriot
\noutbox Topuria, who is considered one of the most technically sound
\nand powerful boxers in the UFC, piqued the Hawaiian\u2019s
\nattention.<\/p>\n

\u201cI wasn\u2019t shocked. I knew he could win. I was shocked at how much
\npeople didn\u2019t give Gaethje a shot, actually. But I thought Gaethje
\nwould win. The thing that shocked me wasn\u2019t the win; it was the way
\nhe won,\u201d Holloway said in a recent interview. \u201cI thought he was
\ngonna have kicks, leg kicks. He outboxed a good boxer in there and
\na power puncher. He did what he did with boxing. That\u2019s what blew
\nmy mind. I knew he could win; I thought he could win, especially
\nwith the grit and stuff. And he showed, Gaethje, man, you can\u2019t
\ncount that man out. He\u2019s an animal.\u201d<\/p>\n

Topuria (17-1) had defended his featherweight title just once,
\nhanding Holloway (27-9) his lone knockout loss, before moving up to
\nlightweight. The latter returned to the win column with a decision
\nwin against Dustin
\nPoirier<\/a>, but then lost his BMF belt to Charles
\nOliveira<\/a>. He\u2019ll take on Conor
\nMcGregor<\/a> at
\nUFC 329<\/a> on Saturday, July 11, at T-Mobile Arena in Las
\nVegas.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n
\n

Max
\nHolloway<\/a> was completely shocked by Topuria vs. Gaethje \u2014 but
\nnot for the reason you may think\u2026<\/p>\n[ #UFC329<\/a>
\n| JULY 11 | 9pmET | LIVE on @ParamountPlus<\/a>
\n] pic.twitter.com\/es9w5dmhyv<\/a><\/p>\n

\u2014 UFC on Paramount+ (@UFConParamount)
\nJuly 7, 2026<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

<\/center> <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Max Holloway wasn\u2019t shocked by the outcome of Ilia Topuria vs. Justin Gaethje. Topuria was a massive favorite when he put his Ultimate Fighting Championship lightweight title on the line against interim champion Gaethje at UFC Freedom 250. After battling through a body shot in the second round, the latter rallied in the third and […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":39153,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[150],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-39152","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-martial-arts-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.martialartskleinanzeigen.com\/videos\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/39152","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.martialartskleinanzeigen.com\/videos\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.martialartskleinanzeigen.com\/videos\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.martialartskleinanzeigen.com\/videos\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.martialartskleinanzeigen.com\/videos\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=39152"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.martialartskleinanzeigen.com\/videos\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/39152\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.martialartskleinanzeigen.com\/videos\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/39153"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.martialartskleinanzeigen.com\/videos\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=39152"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.martialartskleinanzeigen.com\/videos\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=39152"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.martialartskleinanzeigen.com\/videos\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=39152"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}