Jun 28, 2025; Las Vegas, Nevada, USA; Ilia Topuria (red gloves) prior to the fight against Charles Oliveira (blue gloves) during UFC 317 at T-Mobile Arena. Mandatory Credit: Stephen R. Sylvanie-Imagn Images

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The Nelk Boys Go Live With Ilia Topuria For Unfiltered Fight Talk And More!

Ilia Topuria sat down with the Nelk Boys in their live stream; talk about multiple topics inclusing Boxing dreams and Max Holloway!

The Nelk Boys have turned asking uncomfortable questions into an art form. Their Full Send Podcast regularly gets fighters to drop their guard and say exactly what’s on their minds. When UFC champions sit down with these guys, fans know something spicy is coming. Ilia Topuria’s recent appearance delivered everything fans could want from such an encounter.

The lightweight champion didn’t dance around any topics or give boring corporate answers. Instead, he served up hot takes about fake BMF belts, picked his dream teammate for a street fight, and revealed ambitious boxing plans that could shake up the entire combat sports world! He even sparred with them, and obviously, dropped all three of them! The Georgian-Spanish fighter proved once again why he’s becoming one of the most entertaining personalities in MMA today.

Jon Jones Gets The Ultimate Seal Of Approval From Ilia Topuria

The Nelk Boys love putting fighters in impossible situations with their questions. They asked Topuria to pick one person from the entire UFC roster to have his back in a real fight. His immediate answer was his brother Aleksandre, which shows where his heart truly lies. Family comes first, and Topuria made it clear he’d give his life for his brother and vice versa without thinking twice.

But then came the twist that made things interesting. The hosts told him to choose someone besides family, forcing him to dig deeper into the UFC roster. Topuria went straight to Jon Jones. The choice speaks volumes about how fighters view the former heavyweight king, even across different weight classes.

“You have to go for the heavyweights. Jon Jones. It has to be Jon Jones. In the street fight, you don’t need good guys.”

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Jones has always carried that aura of being the most dangerous man in any room. His combination of reach, wrestling skills, and pure nastiness in fights makes him a nightmare for anyone. Even someone like Topuria, who operates in a completely different division, recognizes that Jones would be the ultimate weapon in a street scrap!

Max Holloway Gets Demolished Over BMF Belt Drama

Max Holloway recently decided to poke the bear after his win over Dustin Poirier at UFC 318. The former featherweight champion called out Topuria for carrying around what he labeled a “fake BMF title.” Holloway argued that since he’s still the official BMF champion, Topuria had no business walking around with a replica belt. Topuria’s response was absolutely brutal and left no room for interpretation. He cut straight to the heart of the matter with simple logic that’s hard to dispute.

“That’s not my problem. I just knocked him out. How can you still be the BMF if I knocked you out? I pointed to the ground in the first 10 seconds. You ran away. Then I caught you anyways and I put you to sleep. And you’re still the BMF? How’s that?”

Ilia Topuria is perplexed at Max Holloway still being promoted as BMF champion 😬 pic.twitter.com/dJhLMy7kXl
— MMA Junkie (@MMAJunkie) July 23, 2025

The whole BMF belt situation has become a weird soap opera in MMA. Both fighters claim to be the real champion of something that’s basically somewhat of an arbitrary title anyway.

Ilia Topuria Chases Boxing Dreams

The most surprising revelation from the livestream was Topuria’s serious interest in boxing while holding UFC gold. He’s closely watching the upcoming Canelo Alvarez vs. Terrance Crawford fight scheduled for September 13th in Las Vegas. The winner of that massive bout could find themselves with an unexpected challenger from the MMA world.

“I would love to go against the winner of Canelo vs. Crawford. The only thing is that, I don’t wanna have that rivalry with Canelo, cause he was my idol and I learned so many things from him. “

Topuria believes six months of focused boxing training could turn him into a world champion. It’s bold talk, but he wouldn’t be the first UFC star to test those waters. The tricky part is his complicated feelings about potentially fighting Canelo, who he considers an idol and someone he learned from during his development as a fighter. Whether that dream ever gets fulfilled remains to be seen!

(Image Credit: Stephen R. Sylvanie – Imagn Images)

Ilia Topuria

Jon Jones

Max Holloway

Zaid Quraishi

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I am a dedicated MMA and Boxing content writer at The Playoffs. I was instantly hooked on MMA after watching the fight between Lyoto Machida vs. Gegard Mousasi back in 2014, and since then, i have been an avid writer with a deep love for the sport and its techniques, providing readers with a thorough understanding of the sport. My favorite aspect of working at The Playoffs is the creative freedom it provides. The diverse range of topics, from listicles and SEO to news articles, keeps me engaged and motivates me to continuously improve my skills! I aim to capture the excitement of the combat sports world in my writing, acting as the middleman between fighters and their die-hard fans. It is kind of like a referee, but with words!