UFC featherweight contender Ilia Topuria has some advice for some of the top-ranked featherweights.
Ilia Topuria is set to headline UFC 298 on February 17 as he takes on Alexander Volkanovski for the featherweight title. It’s a highly-anticipated matchup and in the lead-up to the fight, the Georgian is a slight underdog as he’s -105 to defeat the Aussie. Yet, Topuria has full confidence he will beat Volkanovski with ease.
“The way I’m going to beat him, they won’t even ask me about a rematch,” Topuria said on The MMA Hour.
The hope for Ilia Topuria is to beat Alexander Volkanovski at UFC 298 and then face Conor McGregor in the main event of UFC Spain against whatever weight class the Irishman wants. He believes it would be a fight all the fans want to see, and thinks the UFC would also be interested in it.
Although it does seem far-fetched to see Ilia Topuria fight McGregor next, he makes it clear that Max Holloway, Brian Ortega, or Yair Rodriguez won’t be getting a title shot. According to Ilia, none of those three are worthy of a championship opportunity after all three were dominated by Volkanovski.
“I’m going to beat a guy that whooped his ass three times. How? It doesn’t make any sense. Max, Yair, Brian Ortega, all of them, they can go and retire. I’m never going to give them a chance to fight for the title,” Topuria added.
Of course, many fans seem to think the winner of Yair Rodriguez vs. Brian Ortega 2 at UFC Mexico City will get the next title shot, but Topuria says that won’t be the case at all. Instead, with Topuria saying Rodriguez, Ortega, and Holloway won’t get a title shot, the next highest-ranked opponent would be Movsar Evloev.
But, before Ilia Topuria can think about McGregor or his first title defense, he will need to defeat Volkanovski at UFC 298 on Feb. 17 in Anaheim, California.
Ilia Topuria (14-0) is coming off a dominant decision win over Josh Emmett back in June. Before that, he scored a submission win over Bryce Mitchell. Topuria is a perfect 6-0 in the UFC and also has wins over Jai Herbert, Ryan Hall, Damon Jackson, and Youssef Zalal.