Ilia Topuria wants UFC to let him face winner of the Canelo Alvarez vs. Terence Crawford fight: "They did it with Conor, why not with me?"

Ilia Topuria recently opened up about wanting to step inside the squared circle for a high-profile boxing match against the winner of the upcoming Canelo Alvarez vs. Terence Crawford fight. He also expressed hope that the UFC would allow him to do so while under contract, like they did for Conor McGregor.

Topuria beat Charles Oliveira via first-round knockout to win the lightweight championship at UFC 317 last month. Before that, the undefeated MMA superstar dispatched Max Holloway and Alexander Volkanovski via statement knockouts at UFC 308 last October and at UFC 298 last February, respectively.

Given his skyrocketing stardom and perceived invincibility in the cage, it appears Topuria is ready to go down the McGregor route and take on a professional boxer. Like the Irishman's high-profile boxing match against Floyd Mayweather in August 2017, Topuria has a big-money fight against Alvarez or Crawford on his mind.

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Alvarez and Crawford are notably set to throw down in an undisputed super middleweight title fight in September in Las Vegas. During a recent stream with the NELK Boys, Topuria voiced his desire to fight in the squared circle and said:

"It doesn't matter even if I have fights [left] in the UFC, you can always ask them to let you do boxing. They did it with Conor, why not with me? I would love to go to boxing. I would love to go up against the winner of Canelo and Crawford. Canelo because he was my idol, always respectful to everyone. I have to try, why not?"

Caneo Alvarez addresses potential Ilia Topuria boxing super fight

Last month, Canelo Alvarez addressed a potential fight against Ilia Topuria in the boxing ring after the UFC superstar made it clear that he admires the Mexican boxer and would love to face him someday.

During a pre-fight press conference ahead of his Terence Crawford clash, Alvarez fielded a question about a potential Topuria fight and said:

"First of all, I have never seen him fight a full fight, but I really love him and respect him a lot, and I admire and thank him. I have a lot of gratitude for fighters who take a little bit of my fighting and respect it, it’s awesome to see other fighters like me. Let’s see, in terms of fighting him, first things first, let’s worry about this now."

Watch the full clip below:

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Edited by Nishant Zende.