UFC's Max Holloway, Ilia Topuria Talk Trash on Social Media Amid Title Fight Rumors

The war of words between UFC featherweight champion Ilia Topuria and UFC BMF champion Max Holloway continued on Wednesday.

After Topuria continued to insist that Holloway put his symbolic title on the line if they ever faced each other for the 145-pound title, Holloway fired back by saying the featherweight champ was "spiraling."

Holloway immediately called out Topuria after his spectacular fifth-round knockout of Justin Gaethje at UFC 300. He held the featherweight title for nearly three years and made it clear that he wanted his belt back despite defeating one of the best lightweights in the world.

Topuria became the 145-pound champion in February at UFC 298 with an incredible knockout of his own, putting away longtime titleholder and Holloway's rival Alex Volkanovski in the second round. His win over Volkanovski, who holds three wins over Holloway, opened up multiple possibilities for the featherweight title picture.

It initially appeared that Topuria was headed toward a rematch with Volkanovski, given the latter's lengthy title reign. However, Volkanovski is believed to need some time off after suffering back-to-back knockouts, the first of which came in October at UFC 294 in a lightweight title fight against Islam Makhachev.

Topuria then turned his attention to Holloway, and things heated up after the Hawaiian's scintillating victory less than a month ago. However, his calls to put the BMF title on the line created a snag.

The UFC BMF title is a symbolic championship that has been put on the line just three times. Attaching it to a weight-class title defeats the purpose of having a symbolic title that is meant to be contested among popular fighters who've proved their mettle in the UFC.

Amid Holloway's refusal to put the BMF title up for grabs, Topuria recently indicated that he'd be open to defending his featherweight title against two-time title challenger Brian Ortega, who returned from a year-and-a-half layoff in February with a win over Yair Rodriguez.

Still, it's clear that Topuria vs. Holloway is one of the biggest fights the UFC can make right now, so it's likely that the two of them will meet each other in the Octagon at some point regardless of whether Topuria's demands are met or not.