Since Ilia Topuria became world featherweight champion UFC has not stopped speculating about what his next rival in the octagon. Although after the victory of Max Holloway in UFC 300 against Justin Gaethje, the Hawaiian is running as a strong candidate, recently sports commentator Joe Rogan has revealed that Topuria rejected the offer of a revenge against Volkanovski at UFC 305.
“I don’t know who he wants to fight next. But I guess He feels that he is a champion and that he can make the decisions. I know he turned down the Perth fight (UFC 305), the rematch with Volkanovski,” Rogan explained during an interview with Max Holloway. It is not surprising that the Hispanic-Georgian rejected the fight, since UFC 305 will be organized in Australia —Volkanovski’s native country— and the current champion has repeated on numerous occasions that he would like to fight in Spain.
Cormier’s criticisms
However, the attitude of ‘El Matador’ has unleashed some criticism in the universe of the MMAwhere I don’t know how to understand the strategy of the Climent Club fighter. Daniel Cormier, former UFC champion and commentator, has questioned the fighter’s attitude when it comes to choosing his rivals. “You need a name (on your record) that comes from the older generation. Ilia seems to be taking a different approach, I don’t know exactly what it is,” Cormier said on YouTube. And Topuria has ruled out on numerous occasions the possibility of fighting with the great fighters of the division.
“He said he wasn’t going to fight Brian Ortega, said he was not going to fight Max Holloway and now it seems that he does not want to fight Alexander Volkanovski again. Those are the big featherweight names and he doesn’t seem to want to fight those guys,” Cormier added.
Although Topuria had no intention of facing Holloway, the Spanish-Gerogian saw an opportunity when ‘Blessed’ took over the BMF belt before Gaethje. He has now set the condition that this belt be at stake for Holloway to be the opponent for his first defense of the 145 pound title. However, the fight has not yet been confirmed by the UFC.
