UFC 308 fight grades: Does Ilia Topuria's KO top the list? - ESPN

UFC 308 was headlined by one of the most anticipated featherweight title fights since Conor McGregor vs. José Aldo, as Ilia Topuria made his first defense of the belt against Max Holloway. What we witnessed solidified how good Topuria is. His performance on Saturday afternoon will thrust him into stardom. But the rest of the card was loaded with fights that looked good on paper. Did they deliver in practice?

Spoiler alert: Yes.

After each pay-per-view, we break down and assess the quality of each fight and the fight card based on skill displayed, competitiveness and what is at stake. Andreas Hale looks at all 13 fights of UFC 308, including Ilia Topuria's violent finish of Max Holloway, Khamzat Chimaev smothering Robert Whittaker, Mateusz Rebecki and Myktybek Orolbai painting the canvas red with a fight of the year contender and a stunning double backfist knockout authored by Shara Magomedov.

Result: Topuria def. Holloway by third-round KO

Grade: A

Topuria promised he would be the first to knock Holloway out, and he did so emphatically. This was a high-stakes battle between the self-proclaimed best boxer in the UFC and the rising star with devastating power. For two rounds, the battle of Holloway's volume against Topuria's power delivered an extremely close fight. Eventually, Topuria's blistering power broke through when he nailed Holloway with a left hand that had the BMF champion rocked. Rather than rumble in recklessly, Topuria picked his spots and clobbered Holloway with a left hand that sent the former champion to the canvas in a heap. A few follow up strikes followed to fulfill his promise. If there are any questions about how good Topuria is, they were answered with a violent finish of a sure shot UFC Hall of