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Ilia Topuria’s rise ahead of UFC 298
Ilia Topuria has had quite the rise in the UFC since signing with the promotion three years ago. With wins against Youssef Zalal, Damon Jackson, Ryan Hall and Jai Herbert, Topuria cemented himself as a contender, but he was still a few wins away from a potential championship opportunity. He got those in his next two appearances, as ‘El Matador’ defeated Bryce Mitchell and Josh Emmett at UFC 282 and UFC on ABC 5, respectively.
After that, Topuria got the fight he always wanted: reigning UFC champion Alexander Volkanovski.
UFC champ says Topuria could fade into irrelevance with a loss
There is no shortage of confidence in Ilia Topuria. The 27-year-old already sees himself alongside some divisional greats such as Jose Aldo, Conor McGregor and Alexander Volkanovski with a win at UFC 298 this Saturday.
But with a loss? Well, Topuria has no intentions of losing, but if he does, then UFC champion Sean O’Malley says instead of a divisional great, he would be a divisional dud.
“Ilia, is he going to get the f—ing job done? Ilia vs. Volk,” said O’Malley on an episode of the TimboSugarShow. “He better hope he f—ing does, because he’s talking a lot of games. He’s talking a lot of s—t. He’s got a documentary going coming out, he’s got a f—ing movie coming out. He’s calling out Conor McGregor. Dude, if he goes and loses to Volk, he’s irrelevant. I’m not going to be calling him out. He should be thanking me for talking about him.”
Sean O’Malley wanted a Topuria fight
Though in a different weight class, Sean O’Malley has said a fight with Ilia Topuria was ‘happening’. Of course, that would depend on if they win their upcoming fights against Marlon Vera and Alexander Volkanovski.
Also, Topuria has already rejected any fight with O’Malley, who he deemed as ‘too easy of a challenge’ for him. To O’Malley, too easy actually translates into too difficult.
“Ilia Topuria, I feel like he’s a little confused on life,” said O’Malley in another episode of the TimboSugarShow. “He said that he wouldn’t want to fight me if he beats Volkanovski because I’m too easy. I just feel like that makes you look so f—ing stupid. He says I don’t have anything. I’m the champ and the biggest star in the UFC.
“For him to say that makes me think that he’s — or he just had someone tweet for him or he had something with the translation,” continued O’Malley. “Because it’s gotta be one of the dumbest things any UFC fighter has ever said. If a 25er was like, ‘I’m going to move up and beat your ass’ and they were a huge star and I thought the fight was actually easy, I would be pushing for that fight. 100 percent, I’m in. So I’m thinking that he looks at me like, ‘F—k, that’s not a great matchup’.”
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