Brash featherweight contender, Ilia Topuria may be riding a close betting line into his championship debut at UFC 298 next weekend against Alexander Volkanovski, however, the Georgian is set to release a documentary titled ‘Road to the Belt’ in the immediate aftermath of his headliner, remaining supremely confident of landing gold.
Topuria, the current number five ranked featherweight contender, is slated to take main event honors are UFC 298 in Anaheim, takes on dominant division gold holder, Volkanovski in his first attempt to mint himself as an Octagon gold holder.
Riding an unbeaten winning run since his 2020 debut in the Dana White-led promotion, Topuria most recently landed a wholly one-sided unanimous decision win over former interim featherweight title chaser, Josh Emmett last summer, earning his first championship siege as a result.
Ilia Topuria plans ‘Road to the Belt’ documentary
Currently riding a pick ‘em line of -108 into his UFC 298 headliner, compared to the -112 line on offer for Australian champion, Volkanovski – Topuria’s recent movement on the line is clearly indicative of his recent bravado, which has most certainly contributed to a free anchor including UFC 298 – as he chases gold for the first time.
And announcing intentions to steamroll New South Wales technician, Volkanovski at UFC 298 next weekend, Ilia Topuria claims he will finish the featherweight kingpin inside a single round in California – before turning around and chasing a championship clash against former duel-weight champion, Conor McGregor.
To some’s surprise to boot, Topuria – who has already labelled himself as the current champion on his official Instagram account, and today, revealed he is set to release a documentary labelled ‘Road to the Belt’ in the aftermath of UFC 298 – remaining confident of snatching spoils from Volkanovski.
Sharing his distinct thoughts on Ilia Topuria’s brash attitude ahead of their championship clash in Anaheim, Volkanovski claimed the former is already viewing himself as an out-and-out “superstar” fighter – before he’s even touched Octagon spoils.
“He’s (Ilia Topuria) already acting like he’s the champion and thinks he’s this,” Alexander Volkanovski explained. “He literally thinks he’s some superstar already. Oh, mate, that all changes February 17. and he’s gonna have a rude shock. He’s gonna have to literally eat a big humble pie and I get to do that. It’s perfect for my storyline, right now.”
Shutting down the possibility of title defenses against a host of contenders and former gold holders should he topple Volkanovski next weekend, Ilia Topuria told the likes of ex-champions, Max Holloway, and Yair Rodríguez in their quest for gold once more – as well as incoming UFC Mexico City co-headliner, Brian Ortega.
Making his return to the featherweight limit for the first time since he headlined UFC 290 back in July of last year during International Fight Week, Volkanovski successfully unified the belts on that occasion, stopping then-interim gold holder, Rodríguez with a barrage of ground strikes in the pair’s championship unification bout.
Last time out, however, Volkanovski was stopped with a brutal high-kick and strikes KO loss in October in a lightweight title rematch with Islam Makhachev, on just two weeks’ notice.