Ilia Topuria recently caused surprise among MMA fans and pundits after expressing interest in moving down to lightweight. The Spaniard defended his featherweight title against Max Holloway at UFC 308, handing the Hawaiian his first knockout loss.
“El Matador” was then expected to face Alexander Volkanovsky in a rematch of their UFC 298 fight, where Topuria defeated “The Big One” in the second round to win the title.
Topuria and Volkanovski even faced each other in the octagon UFC 308. But in the weeks since the incident, the 27-year-old appears to have changed his mind.
His coach, Jorge Clement, recently gave an interview Presentation radio after the comments made by the fighter. Confirming the lightweight champion's path forward, Climent said:
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“The reality is, he hates the weight (cut). He's done it so many times. Every time we do it, it's harder. He's touched (the underworld), he doesn't want to do it anymore. So he wants to move up to the next weight class.” (0:35-1:02)
He also discussed the rumored rematch with Volkanovsky:
“I don't think he's going to defend the bantamweight title. I think he wants to go to featherweight… He wants to fight ranked guys to go for the belt… If Alex fights at bantamweight, I don't think (we'll fight him again). (3:55-4:27)
Check out Jorge Climent's comments on Ilia Topuria below:
Ilia Topuria shares a possible retirement timeline
Ilia Topuria appears to be after a second UFC world title following his recent comments about his interest in moving down to lightweight He will face Charles Oliveira.
The Spaniard is one of the top-rated talents in MMA right now, and at just 27 years old, he is expected to finish his career with several promotional records.
But the lightweight champion recently shared a potential timeline for his retirement from MMA, which may surprise fans.
During an interview with a Spanish news broadcaster COPE Partidazio, he discussed his eventual retirement from the sport. Topuria's comments were reposted by Xa @ChampRDS, who wrote the translated comments as follows:
“II am 27 years old. I'm hoping to make it to 30… Right now, I'm not motivated to defend my belt anymore in my division. Now I want to move up a category and we'll see how everything goes.”
Check out Ilia Topuria's comments below:
Edited by Harvey Leonard