There’s a lot of fun fights on the horizon for Ilia Topuria, but only one has his attention.
Spain’s Topuria enters his first title defense as the UFC Featherweight Champion at UFC 308 on Oct. 26, where he battles BMF titleholder Max Holloway in the sands of Abu Dhabi, UAE. Holloway will try to reclaim what was once his, having lost the 145lb title to Alexander Volkanovski and two attempts to get it back.
Topuria Willing To Fight Whoever The UFC Puts In Front Of Him
It only took Topuria one try, two rounds against Volkanovski to dethrone him by TKO at UFC 298, backing up everything he said he was going to do and boy, did Topuria talk after the title win in February…
“Before I used to talk like, ‘I’m going to fight this guy or this guy, I’m going to go up a weight class…’ But, now I’m focused on what’s in front of me,” Topuria told Marca in Spanish, when asked what’s next for him with a win over Holloway.
“The matchmaking job is left to the UFC, so whenever they call me and tell me to fight whoever, if they want me to move up a division, I would love to do that, if they want me to defend the title, I’ll do that as well. My job is to prepare like a professional, a world-class athlete and face whoever they give me to fight.”
As you might recall, there was no shortage of call-outs and interest in the UFC’s biggest stars after Topuria outshined “The Great” with the Spaniard pitching fights with Conor McGregor, Islam Makhachev and even the retired, undefeated lightweight champion Khabib Nurmagomedov.
Though, it seems Topuria’s changing up his tune for the time being, honing in on Holloway over anything else that may be in his future.
Topuria Comments On O’Malley’s Title Defeat, Killing Chances Of Super-Fight
While Topuria certainly shot for the stars following a breakout performance in his first PPV main event, “El Matador” also has a target on his back as the defending featherweight champion, not just from his fellow featherweights but the weight class below.
Prior to losing the title to Georgian “Machine” and Topuria’s teammate, Merab Dvalishvili, Sean O’Malley had been calling out Topuria following his title defense over Chito Vera earlier this year at a try for double-champ status.
Of course, we never saw Topuria vs. O’Malley ever close to being materialized with “Suga” suffering defeat at the Sphere and Topuria left to go about his career.
“Well, another, better fight will come around, I’m sure,” Topuria said of O’Malley’s recent title loss. “It’s like with Paddy [Pimblett], it looked like a super attractive fight but if you’re not at the same level, what can I do? You get defeated before you even get in the Octagon with me. I don’t even need get in there for people to know that I am better than you. So, why fight?”
