Ilia Topuria is only interested in fighting featherweight legends in his upcoming bout. Topuria declared himself the No. 1 contender for the 145-pound belt.
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Ilia Topuria is only interested in fighting featherweight legends in his upcoming bout. Topuria declared himself the No. 1 contender for the 145-pound belt after a convincing win over Josh Emmett in Saturday’s UFC Jacksonville main event. He specifically stated that he wishes to challenge long-reigning champion Alexander Volkanovski, who will next defend the title against interim champion Yair Rodriguez at UFC 290 on July 8.
Topuria was asked during the evening’s post-fight press conference whether he would contemplate facing Max Holloway instead of defending the featherweight championship if Volkanovski defeated Rodriguez and then worked towards a rematch with lightweight champion Islam Makhachev instead of defending the featherweight belt.
“Busy, not busy, I don’t know if [Volkanovski is] busy,” Topuria said. “I’m the next guy in the line, I can wait. One of the best skills I have is patience. If they offer me to fight with Max Holloway in Spain, let’s do it. If not, I’m going to wait for my title shot.”
Despite the fact that Topuria has earned a shot at the championship thanks to his great UFC run, there is always a chance the organization may ask him to compete in one more bout first. If so, Max Holloway is the only other fighter Topuria would be interested in facing, and he would really like to do it in Spain.
“I’m the next guy in the line. I can wait. One of the best skills that I have is the patience. If they offer me to fight with Max Holloway in Spain, let’s do it. If not, I’m going to wait for my title fight. That’s all,” Topuria said.
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