Remaining undefeated and moving to 14-0 as a professional, surging featherweight contender, Ilia Topuria has likely toppled former interim title challenger, Josh Emmett from the top-5 rankings in the weight class, turning in a brutal five round unanimous decision (50-44, 50-42, 49-45) victory in the main event of UFC Fight Night Jacksonville.
Topuria, a native of Germany, rode into his premier headliner under the promotion’s banner off the back of a stunning victory back in December, stopping the highly-touted, Bryce Mitchell with a brutal second round arm-triangle choke at UFC 282.
And continuing his rich vein of form tonight in ‘The Sunshine State’, Topuria who has been touted to fight for featherweight gold in the future, dropped former interim championship challenger, Emmett on multiple occasions — knocking the Arizona native from pillar to post over the course of five rounds en route to his unanimous judging triumph.
Likely set to find himself inserted into a title-eliminator at the very least following tonight’s win over Emmett, Ilia Topuria suggested a title fight with the victor of next month’s UFC 290 headliner, which features featherweight champions, Alexander Volkanovski, and Yair Rodríguez in a championship unification bout.
Below, catch the highlights from Ilia Topuria’s decision win over Josh Emmett
WHAT A FIGHT, FOLKS!!!!!!
#UFCJacksonville pic.twitter.com/lIgir9SW4s
— UFC (@ufc) June 24, 2023
Ilia Topuria sends Josh Emmett to the canvas
— bjpenndotcom (@bjpenndotcom) June 24, 2023
Could @TopuriaIlia be bringing a championship back to Alicante, Spain?
Nothing but bright things on the horizon for
— UFC Europe (@UFCEurope) June 24, 2023
El Matador!