Ilia Topuria, one of the UFC’s rising stars, has recently tried to link his name with boxing’s biggest champions. The undefeated Spanish-Georgian fighter believes he could knock out Terence Crawford, a claim that quickly caught the attention of the boxing world. Crawford, however, isn’t impressed.
Crawford Responds to the Callout
Crawford, who owns a flawless 42-0 professional record with 31 knockouts, is fresh off a career-defining win over Canelo Alvarez. Despite Topuria’s confidence, the boxer admitted he had never even seen the UFC champion fight before.
“To be honest, I’ve never even seen this dude fight, I’m not going to lie,” Crawford told Ariel Helwani. “I’m not worried about that guy at all. It’s crazy how things work. I didn’t even know who he was. When he saw me at the UFC and came up and shook my hand saying ‘what’s up’ to me, I didn’t even know who he was. But then I see him online talking about how he’d knock me out in the first round, and this and that. Well if you wanted to fight me, you had the opportunity to tell me, ‘Hey, I want to fight you, what’s up?‘ That’s fake.”
Terence Crawford fires back at Ilia Topuria:
“When he saw me at the UFC and came up to shake my hand and said what’s up to me… I didn’t even know who he was. Then I see him online talking about how he’ll knock me out in the first round… That’s fake. I’m not gonna go hide… pic.twitter.com/ausGr3Oulg
— Ariel Helwani (@arielhelwani) September 15, 2025
Topuria may be trying to follow the path Conor McGregor set when he crossed into boxing for a massive payday against Floyd Mayweather Jr. back in 2017. Still, Crawford made it clear that he sees a huge gap between McGregor’s star power and Topuria’s current status.
“I definitely think he’s trying to chase attention,” Crawford continued. “I think he’d definitely get in the ring with me for the right check. That’s what we all do it for. What money would I get out of fighting him? Tell me how much I’m gonna get out of fighting him. He’s not nowhere near on the level of Conor McGregor. Let’s be real. Stop it. Don’t ever compare him to Conor. Like I said, I don’t know this guy. I never seen this guy fight. And I watch a lot of MMA. Maybe he’s a good fighter, I don’t know. But I honestly never seen this guy fight.”
Topuria currently holds an unbeaten 17-0 MMA record. After vacating his featherweight title earlier this year, he moved to lightweight and captured another belt by defeating Charles Oliveira at UFC 317. The UFC has yet to announce his next opponent for early 2026, but for now, his name is being mentioned alongside one of boxing’s best — even if Crawford isn’t taking him seriously.
