'Feels very un-BMF like'… UFC fans react to Ilia Topuria having a fake belt in his home ahead of UFC 308 clash with Holloway
01/09/2024 11:33
Despite confirming that the BMF title won't be up for grabs in the main event of UFC 308 in October, Ilia Topuria has already 'secured' the silver-plated strap; one that sits on his mantlepiece alongside the featherweight championship.
Whilst Ilia Topuria is certainly well-known for his insatiable 'manifesting' of UFC title success, having famously changed his social media bios to 15-0 before his clash with Alexander Volkanovski, getting a 'fake BMF title' hasn't gone over too well with fans.
Ilia Topuria has a fake BMF belt in his house, despite not being available at UFC 308
Earlier this week, Spanish streamer 'Ibai' was able to join UFC featherweight champion Ilia Topuria at his home in Madrid to receive a special training session from 'El Matador'.
Yet fans were quick to spot a rather unusual object sitting pretty on his mantlepiece, one that Topuria is yet to officially capture in the octagon; next to his undisputed featherweight strap is the BMF title.
A screengrab of the belts was shared to social media by reporter Danny Segura, and it's safe to say that the purchasing of the replica belt, let alone its displaying in his home, hasn't gone over too well with UFC fans.
"Feels very UN-BMF-like," reads the top comments on the post, "Buying your own belt from the store and putting it on display…."
"Nah, you got to pay the iron price for something like that," wrote another fan, with one user even going as far as to state that the fake belt was akin to "Stolen valor."
Topuria is technically in 'possession' of his own BMF title, despite having only just confirmed that the silver-plated belt won't be up for grabs at UFC 308 in October.
"No, the BMF title is not going to be on the line," Topuria explained to MMA Junkie last week, before quickly reiterating that "To be honest, I don't care.
"They took that decision and at the end of the day it's like, when I'm going to beat him he can't say he's a BMF or however they want to call him. I'm just concentrating on my title defense and that's it. I don't care about anything else."
What Topuria does care about, however, is becoming the first person to knockout Max 'Blessed' Holloway in the UFC; with that opportunity set for UFC 308 – October 26 in Abu Dhabi.
"I respect Max Holloway. He's been a great fighter. He gave us great fights. He seems to be a good person. I respect him. But I don't know, I feel like I'm way better than him everywhere. It's going to be a complete masterpiece. You will see. I will knock him out in the first round."
Ilia Topuria advises against backup fighter for UFC 308 title clash
When Topuria and Holloway do clash in the dunes of Arabia, they could do so with former champion Alexander Volkanovski waiting in the wings, with the Australian having just teased that his next fight will indeed be a title bout.
Yet Topuria believes that Volkanovski shouldn't be the one to get that backup fighter spot for the simple reason that he doesn't want to see 'The Great' suffer three consecutive KO losses in such a short amount of time.
"Listen, I don't know [if that's a good idea], he wants to get knocked out every year. Twice, maybe someone has to give him good advice. He needs some rest. I'm telling you; he needs some rest. His head at least.
"My business and my job are to fight, no matter who is in front of me. I'm the world champion. I had my preferences before that I wanted to fight people who was next to me in the rankings, to get my chance to fight for the title as soon as possible. But now, when I'm the world champion, I don't care."
Whoever gets that backup spot, we hope that both Topuria and Holloway make it to the octagon healthy and happy for UFC 308, a title bout that 'El Matador' teases will be a "masterpiece of mixed martial arts."
