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Ilia Topuria once voiced his confidence in a hypothetical matchup against the legendary Khabib Nurmagomedov. In 2024, Topuria shocked the MMA community with back-to-back knockout wins against Alexander Volkanovski and Max Holloway.
The former UFC featherweight kingpin has never lacked confidence, which was validated by his last two performances in title fights. The undefeated 28-year-old previously had this to say in an interview about potentially fighting 'The Eagle':
"He's not coming back, but I'd love to fight Khabib [Nurmagomedov] because I feel like I'm going to beat him. I feel like I'm going to beat him. You've beaten Justin Gaethje, Conor McGregor, Dustin Poirier, good, perfect. I feel like I'm much better than all of the guys you've beaten."
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Ilia Topuria sends premature "apology" to Charles Oliveira, calls out Islam Makhachev
Earlier this year, Ilia Topuria vacated his UFC featherweight title and announced he was officially moving up to lightweight. Topuria initially eyed an immediate title fight against Islam Makhachev, who recently vacated his throne to move up to welterweight.
As a result, 'La Leyenda' will face Charles Oliveira in the UFC 317 main event on June 28 for the vacant lightweight title. Topuria took to Twitter and had this to say about his upcoming fight after UFC CEO Dana White confirmed the matchup:
"On June 28, another dream will come true. I’ll be the champion of the lightweight division. Charles, my apologies in advance… I’m just fighting for my dreams. It’s unfortunate that Makhachev ran away. 17-0"
Check out Ilia Topuria's comments below:
Former UFC lightweight champion Oliveira is coming off a unanimous decision win against Michael Chandler in November 2024. 'Do Bronxs' was stripped of the 155-pound title in May 2022 due to missing weight. He later failed to regain the throne against Makhachev.
'La Leyenda' plans to extend his fast-rising legacy by taking out another former world champion in Oliveira to capture his second UFC title.
