Ilia Topuria recently caused some surprise among MMA fans and pundits after expressing interest in moving to lightweight. The Spaniard defended his featherweight title against Max Holloway at UFC 308, handing the Hawaiian his first knockout defeat.
‘El Matador’ was then expected to face Alexander Volkanovski in a rematch of their UFC 298 bout, where Topuria won the title after knocking ‘The Great’ out cold in round two.
Topuria and Volkanovski even shared a faceoff in the octagon at UFC 308. But in the weeks that have followed the event, it appears that the 27-year-old has changed his mind.
His coach, Jorge Climent, was recently interviewed on Submission Radio after the comments made by his fighter. Climent confirmed that featherweight champion’s path forward, saying:
“The reality is, he hates that weight [cut]. He did it a lot of times. It’s harder every time we do it. He touched the [underworld], he doesn’t want to do it anymore. That’s why he wants to go up to the next weight class.” [0:35-1:02]
He also discussed the rumored rematch with Volkanovski:
“I don’t think he is going to defend the featherweight title. I think he wants to go to lightweight… He wants to fight with ranked guys to go for the belt… If Alex fights at featherweight, I don’t think [we will fight him again].” [3:55-4:27]
Catch Jorge Climent’s comments on Ilia Topuria below:
Ilia Topuria shares possible retirement timeline
Ilia Topuria appears to be after a second UFC world title following his recent comments about being interested in moving to lightweight to face Charles Oliveira.
The Spaniard is one of the highest-rated talents in MMA right now, and at just 27 years old there is an expectation that he may end his career holding multiple promotional records.
But the featherweight champion recently shared a potential timeline for his retirement from MMA, which may surprise fans.
During an interview with Spanish news broadcaster El Partidazio de COPE, he discussed his eventual retirement from the sport. Topuria’s comments were reposted to X by @ChampRDS, who wrote the translated comments as:
“I‘m 27. I hope to be out by 30… Right now, in my division I no longer have the motivation to defend my belt anymore. 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
