Ilia Topuria seems confident enough that he is next and is willing to take on anybody the roster has to offer and wait for a good opportunity since there are two titleholders currently. Upon his UFC on ABC 5 main event victory, Topuria (14-0 MMA, 6-0 UFC) met at a post-fight press conference to make his case for fighting the winner of the championship contest between champion Alexander Volkanovski and interim champion Yair Rodriguez at UFC 290 on July 8.
Topuria, while talking to MMA Junkie and other reporters, stated, he is confident enough to take on anyone in his division and everyone agrees to it Though it was a tough fight with Emmett, Topuria beat him pretty easily and claims he would do the same with Volkanovski. “The recipe is going to be the same. I’m going to knock him out in the first round, second round. If not, I’m going to dominate him for five rounds, no problem.” Topuria added. (Via- MMA Junkie)
“I’m the next guy in the line,” Topuria said. “I can wait. One of the best skills that I have is the patience. If they offer me to fight with Max Holloway in Spain, let’s do it. If not, I’m going to wait for my title fight. That’s all.” Whatever happens next, Topuria knows exactly where he’ll be on July 8. He’s curious about what’s going to happen next. The Georgian-Spanish fighter answered by stating that he would only fight Holloway next if the battle took place in Spain.
UFC Jacksonville: Ilia Topuria plays around with Josh Emmett easily defending his streak
Topuria’s latest bout took place earlier this evening (June 24th, 2023) at the UFC Jacksonville event. The featherweight delivered a strong performance in the night’s main event, defeating Josh Emmett by unanimous decision.
50-44
— UFC on BT Sport (@btsportufc) June 24, 2023
50-42
49-45
A clean sweep for Ilia Topuria in the main event 😮💨#UFCJacksonville pic.twitter.com/VaBgZuiIKf
Topuria showed significant striking ability throughout the match with 171 strikes landed with 152 being precise. On the contrary, Emmett managed to get only 89 strikes out of which 87 were significant enough to alter the durability of Topuria. Although with a high rate of strikes, Josh Emmett only landed half as many as Ilia Topuria.
Currently, former UFC featherweight champion Max Holloway is set to face ‘The Korean Zombie,’ aka Chan Sung Jung, at the August 26th UFC Fight Night event. Holloway has been defeated three times by current UFC featherweight champion Alexander Volkanovski. Given that, Holloway is seen to be just a few wins away from another championship chance. In his post-fight news conference, Ilia Topuria makes a statement about Holloway.
“I want Alex to defend that belt… I’ll show him where his whole world is going to end and mine is going to start” 👊
— UFC on BT Sport (@btsportufc) June 24, 2023
Ilia Topuria continues his unbeaten record and has a few words for the champion at 145…#UFCJacksonville pic.twitter.com/nmQIi2ItCn
Currently, Topuria stands strong in the featherweight division with a streak of 6 UFC wins and no losses. With such impressive skill sets, which include, aggressive power, fluent footwork, and agility, Topuria is a major threat to anyone in his division and even may hold the opportunity to wrap his waist in gold.