Ilia Topuria makes daring prediction for UFC 317 title showdown towards Charles Oliveira

Ilia Topuria is within the midst of his pace run by means of the MMA historical past books.

This 12 months’s version of Worldwide Battle Week concludes Saturday with UFC 317, headlined by an enormous conflict for the vacant light-weight title. Former featherweight champion Topuria left his weight class — and his belt — behind with the intention of turning into a two-division titleholder, and that begins in Las Vegas towards former light-weight champion Charles Oliveira.

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Showing on Monday’s version of “The Ariel Helwani Present,” Topuria broke down his extremely anticipated return to 155 kilos.

“You’ll be able to by no means rely him out as a result of he is a harmful man,” Topuria stated of Oliveira. “He has probably the most finishes within the UFC’s historical past. However I’ve confronted these form of conditions many, many instances, with [Alexander Volkanovski], with Max Holloway. Nobody might beat them. Nobody might knock them out. They usually all the time had this factor of their thoughts, like, ‘Oh, I confronted this man and this one and that. Nobody might knock me out.’ You by no means confronted me. You by no means confronted somebody that skillful like me.

“That is what I have been saying for a very long time. The talent growth I am bringing to this sport, they’ve by no means felt it, they by no means noticed it. So that is what is going on to occur with Charles. He thinks that he has some alternatives, however the actuality is that he [does] not. The one factor he has to do is present up, and I am going to do the remainder.”

Topuria, 28, has been an image of perfection all through his 15-fight MMA profession, defeating all comers, with solely two opponents lasting lengthy sufficient to see the judges’ scorecards. In his first two UFC title fights, Topuria pulled off two of probably the most unbelievable performances of the previous decade, knocking out all-time greats Volkanovski and Holloway in succession.

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Regardless of the brand new division and a harmful new impediment in Oliveira, “El Matador” predicts the same end result this time round.

“I will end him within the first spherical,” Topuria stated. “He walks ahead — that is all I want. The time that it takes me to knock out my opponents is the time that it takes me to shut the space, as a result of they run away. They run, they transfer facet to facet, and as soon as I shut the space and I am going with my mixtures, I knock them out. However with Charles, I am not going to wish to shut the space as a result of he walks ahead. That is all I must take his lights out. Simply attempt to keep in the course of the Octagon. Simply attempt to try this, and you are not going to see me coming.”

On the time of Topuria’s resolution to maneuver up in weight this previous February, the king of 155 kilos was nonetheless Islam Makhachev, a record-setting dominant light-weight champion. Nonetheless, Makhachev has since adopted in Topuria’s footsteps, transferring as much as welterweight and leaving his title behind.

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Though short-lived, the hypothetical matchup between the ultra-talented high pound-for-pound opponents created prompt buzz and intrigue. Topuria and Makhachev had some temporary exchanges on social media upon Topuria’s featherweight exit, however in the end the battle must wait.

“I feel he is doing his factor. I do not assume [Makhachev] is ducking me, to be trustworthy,” Topuria stated. “I might be mendacity to you if I informed you that he is ducking me. I feel he is uninterested in the burden reduce. He needs a brand new problem. He moved to the welterweight division. He feels and he thinks that he has an opportunity to develop into a double champion. I feel that that is all he is attempting to do.”

Makhachev’s absence from the light-weight division hasn’t shut the door on a possible battle sometime. It could simply rely upon the burden class, which has been an enormous think about Topuria’s decision-making.

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Topuria claimed in latest months that he usually walks round at roughly 180 kilos, which made the burden cuts to featherweight too troublesome to proceed with after he achieved his championship purpose. By the point all is claimed and finished, do not be shocked if he finally continues his rise by means of weight courses.

“If I am strolling on the street with my spouse and somebody says one thing to her, I am not going to ask him, ‘How a lot is your weight? What’s your attain? Peak?'” Topuria stated. “I’ll keep there and I will take his head off. That is how I feel. That is the battle enterprise. I do not care how a lot is your weight. If we have now a battle, let’s battle. You probably have 10 additional kilos, congratulations, however that is not going that will help you.

“For positive [I could fight at welterweight before I’m done]. That would occur. Pay attention, when you’ve got a champion like Belal [Muhammad], or I do not know many names that I might deliver proper now, that is a straightforward path. You’ll be able to go slap him and get that title, and that is it.

“Proper now, I really feel good, I really feel completely happy,” Topuria added. “I am nonetheless in a position to maintain consuming, maintain ingesting. I did not should kill myself till this level. After all, the battle week is all the time robust, all the time arduous. However you’ll be able to’t even evaluate. The additional kilos gave me life.”

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Topuria stated he expects to be anyplace between 174 to 179 kilos on battle night time, which is a major bump from the 167 to 171 kilos he competed at for featherweight.

Whereas Topuria is part of the inflow of recent, recent faces coming into the UFC light-weight title image, so too is his outdated rival Paddy Pimblett, who’s emerged as a real title menace within the years since their notorious 2022 spat at a fighter resort in London. Pimblett’s newest victory got here in a dominant third-round stoppage towards Michael Chandler in April, extending his win streak to 9, with seven of these coming in UFC.

Ought to Topuria declare the 155-pound title, it might conceivably arrange their long-awaited grudge match. But as spectacular as Pimblett has regarded, Topuria believes the Liverpudlian wants at the least another win.

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“No, that is not going to occur. He is one battle away from the title shot,” Topuria stated. “He truly wants that battle as a result of it is going to be even higher for our battle, if he will get another win. We’ll have, I feel, the largest battle within the UFC proper now for the time being. Him vs. Justin Gaethje is sweet, as a result of I feel he’ll beat [Gaethje] simply due to the fashion [matchup].

“It isn’t like I do not like Justin Gaethje — I am truly an enormous fan of all of his fights. I get pleasure from watching him battle. He is a kind of guys that takes numerous punches and throws numerous punches. I like to observe him battle, however I feel that Paddy might get that win simply due to the fashion.”

A Topuria vs. Pimblett bout could be large irrespective of the placement, however the identical may very well be stated for Topuria towards anybody in his dwelling nation of Spain.

Sadly, “El Matador” has but to obtain his large homecoming UFC bout in Spain. UFC CEO Dana White has remained constant along with his curiosity in getting a card finished within the nation, particularly with Topuria’s star solely glowing brighter with every win.

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Topuria remains to be holding out hope, no matter how nicely a Spanish present might do numbers-wise.

“[The dream is] not over,” Topuria stated of a UFC homecoming. “They’re attempting to shut a brand new deal, so perhaps in that deal they’ll get some area to make an occasion in Europe within the prime time in Europe. In the event that they get that, I might like to battle in Spain within the [Santiago Bernabéu] Stadium. It must be within the stadium. Will probably be insane, however I do not know if pay-per-view-wise it might be insane.

“In the event that they do prime time in Europe, I do not assume that the pay-per-view numbers are going to do rather well [because of how early it’d be in the U.S.]. The largest marketplace for the pay-per-view is the USA. I feel the largest fights should occur in the USA.”