Mandatory Credit: Gary A. Vasquez-USA TODAY Sports
Ilia Topuria started in the featherweight division, beating some of the best competition there was. He started his UFC career in 2020 and has won 8 straight fights. Most of his wins has come via knockout but he can also make his opponents tap out. When Topuria knocked out Volkanovski and then went on to put down Max Holloway in a similar fashion, it was clear that there’s not many people that can defeat him.
After all, if you’ve beaten the best of the best, it may just be time to move on for a tougher challenge.
A couple of weeks ago, when Topuria announced that he’s vacating the featherweight belt and the division to move up, it was shocking to say the least. We all expected Topuria to move up at some point in his career, but this early? Was it a good decision or is it something that’ll be the downfall in his UFC career? We cannot say yet. Usually a division’s champion defends his title at least three times or more but it’s clear that Topuria is not like the rest and does not believe in following the norm. Since Topuria and his team have now moved up to the lightweight division, there’s only one thing they’re interested in, and it’s the lightweight belt.
Also Read: ‘I Believe So’ – Alex ‘Poatan’ Pereira Agrees on the UFC’s Biggest Star Claims!
Recently, Topuria teased all his fans with a tweet, talking about his next fight. Let us see what that tweet was.
Topuria plans to surprise his fans and followers with a fight you won’t believe
Ilia Topuria recently tweeted “When we announce it, you won’t believe it. Get ready.” This raises the question, who will he fight against, next? Let us look at some of the possibilities.
Who may Topuria fight next?
- Islam Makhachev- Makhachev is the current lightweight champ and we all know that Topuria and his team is after his belt. If this is the fight that gets announced, it will not really be a shocker as this fight is already highly anticipated. Topuria tweeted that we won’t believe it, but the likelihood of this fight happening is definitely believable. However, no one is going to complain if this fight goes down.
- Arman Tsarukyan- He’s already expressed his thoughts on Arman and said that he has zero interest in taking him on. So the possibility of this happening is most likely out of the window.
- Charles Oliveira- Oliveira wants a title shot and wants nothing to do with Topuria according to his manager. To keep it short, the possibility of this fight happening is slim to none.
- Dustin Poirier- Topuria hypothetically said “Just imagine a fight between me and Dustin Poirier. I love that dog.” It is all love and respect between the two as Poirier replied with “A warrior knows one when he sees one.” Dustin also said “Nothing but respect.” While many may fall into the trap of believing this fight is up next, we do not believe this fight is going to happen.
- Justin Gaethje- While we cannot say for certain, as for every other fighter mentioned, this fight is also not likely to happen as Gaethje was knocked out cold by Max Holloway in UFC 300 and Holloway was defeated by Topuria quite easily. So we believe that the skill gap between Topuria and Gaethje will quite simply be too much if this fight were to happen.
- Michael Chandler- Chandler has been defeated by Poirier, Gaethje, and Oliveria. Just like Gaethje, the skill gap may just be too much between the two fighters.
Also Read: ‘Pereira Could Fight the Winner’ – Dana White Announces the Winner of Jones vs. Aspinall Will Fight Poatan!
At the end, we really cannot say who Topuria plans to take on next, as none of the fighters mentioned above will really be shocking to us. We based all the fighters in terms of shock factor and not really the possibility. There are other sources mentioning Topuria fighting Conor McGregor but that is highly unlikely to happen.
Conor has been making Michael Chandler wait for the past two years and counting and we do not even know if McGregor is ever really going to come back. However, if you want to talk about shocking everyone with a fight, this fight between the two would fit the description.
I cover the National Football League and things cannot get better than that. I always dreamed to play football or basketball professionally since I’m built like a Running Back. But now that I can’t, since I’m technically in the “Unc” age, I thought why not pick a career in sports industry? So here I am, doing what I love, and hoping that the Commanders win the Super Bowl. I give love to players when it’s due, but can be critical about their performances at the same time. Enough about me, now let my articles do all the talking.
Read more
nba 
nfl 
mma 
