Ilia Topuria just became champion of the Featherweight division and already he’s unimpressed with the level of competition below him.
Topuria did what no other 145-pound talent has been able to do, dispatching Alexander Volkanovski via knockout just two rounds into their title fight at UFC 298 (watch the finish here) inside Honda Center in Anaheim, California. That opens up the division to everyone “The Great” has been shutting down for years ... or it would, if Topuria was interested in fighting the past challengers of the division.
When asked by ESPN’s Megan Olivi who stood out to him at Featherweight right now, he was dismissive.
“Right now? Nobody,” he said. “The division really sucks. We need new challengers. We need a couple more fighters in the division. So we’re going to see what happens in the future and hopefully we’re going to have some clear challenger. But, right now there is nobody.”
He expanded on that opinion during UFC 298’s post-fight press conference.
“Max Holloway and all of them?” he said. “No, they don’t make any sense for me right now. As I said, I need new challengers. New ones. So, there are some upcoming fights. We’ll see how they’re going to play out. And you’re going to see ‘El Matador’ [as champion] for awhile.”
That’s bad news for Yair Rodriguez and Brian Ortega, who have a Featherweight contender fight at UFC Mexico City next weekend (Sat. Feb. 24, 2024). And good news for Volkanovski, who was pushing hard for a rematch with “El Matador” from the moment he recovered from the devastating right hand that knocked him out.
“To be honest, at this point, I’m like, okay, I’m going to give him the rematch because he’s a good person,” Topuria said. “But, at the same time, it’s time to move on. It’s time to clean up a little bit the division. It’s time for the new generation to have new challengers, new faces. And I think I will be looking for that. But, to honest, my job, it’s to fight. Whoever they tell me I’m going to have to face and fight next, I will be there. So, that’s it.
“At this point, I think that’s the fight in the division which makes more sense than any fight, you know?” he concluded. “So, we’ll see. I don’t know. I have to sit down with my management team and UFC and we’ll see what the future is holding for me.”
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