Ahead of his premiere headlining bout under the banner of the UFC this weekend in Jacksonville, Florida – surging featherweight contender, Ilia Topuria remains supremely confident that he stops current division titleholder, Alexander Volkanovski in the opening round of a potential future fight.
Topuria, who boasts an undefeated 13-0 professional record, returns to the Octagon for the first time this year, headlining UFC Fight Night Jacksonville, as he takes on the number five ranked featherweight contender, Josh Emmett – whom most recently competed for interim featherweight gold back in February in Australia.
Attempting to continued his stunning undefeated run against the Arizona veteran, Topuria most recently featured at UFC 282 back in December of last year, defeating The Ultimate Fighter alum Bryce Mitchell with a second round arm-triangle submission success.
The victory came as Topuria’s fifth consecutively since joining the UFC back in 2020, having previously defeated Youssef Zalal, as well as landing a trio of consecutive knockout wins over Damon Jackson, Ryan Hall, and Jai Herbert before his submission triumph over Mitchell.
Ilia Topuria eyes dominant win over Alexander Volkanovski
And fast-approaching a title fight, which can only be aided with a victory against Emmett this weekend in ‘The Sunshine State’, Topuria envisions a one-sided win over incumbent gold holder, Volkanovski.
“I’m the next guy in the line,” Ilia Topuria told assembled media during his UFC Jacksonville media availability. “Who deserves it more than me to fight for the title? No one else. So I’m the next guy.”
“As same as always,” Ilia Topuria replied when asked how a fight with Alexander Volkanovski would play out. “I’m gonna finish him in the first round.”
As for Volkanovski, the New South Wales favorite is slated to headline UFC 290 during International Fight Week next month, taking on the aforenoted, Yair Rodríguez in a featherweight title unification bout.