Ilia Topuria is not a man who lacks in confidence.
The former Featherweight kingpin abdicated his 145-pound throne because he desperately wants a piece of Lightweight champion Islam Makhachev, who isn’t so thrilled about another smaller challenger. The undefeated finisher has achieved great things in his relatively short MMA career already and largely lived up to his word, but that success has only increased the grandeur of future promises … like submitting Makhachev.
MMA’s Ronaldo isn’t just confident in his ground game. Fresh off becoming the first man to KO Max Holloway, Topuria is really riding high on his hands. In a recent episode of the PBD podcast, Topuria expressed his belief that he could take on any professional boxer in the game after just six months of committed training.
“If I prepare for six months, only boxing,” Topuria began. “I don’t do any wrestling, only boxing. Bro, put me whoever you want in front of me. Whoever. I hear a lot of boxers talking like ‘Ilia he has good boxing for MMA, but he has nothing for me in the ring.’ Listen, you don’t have anything to do with me outside, inside, whatever you want.
“What do you want to do? You want to play a chess match, I’ll beat you. I know how good I am in boxing. I train every day boxing. That’s part of my life. I spar with pro boxers. I consider myself [a pro boxer]. I can box with anyone, just give me six months.”
If Topuria’s not careful, he’s going to renew the Conor McGregor copycat accusations. Like the Irish superstar, Topuria is immediately in pursuit of a second title and already talking about crossing into the ring. Of course, the potential boxing payouts are much larger than any caged fight purse, so the motivation makes sense. UFC CEO Dana White already said no UFC fighters would be crossing into their fancy new boxing league, but maybe Topuria is the man to convince him otherwise?
In the interim, there are plenty of new challenges for Topuria to face at 155-pounds.
