Touring his championship strap throughout his residency in Spain since his coronation in February, undisputed featherweight titleholder, Ilia Topuria has been urged to make his UFC return soon – and especially against top divisional contenders.
Topuria, the current undisputed featherweight champion, landed that moniker back in February in the main event of UFC 298 in Anaheim, stopping the dominant reign of Alexander Volkanovski with a blistering second round KO win.
Remaining unbeaten with his stoppage of Volkanovski, Ilia Topuria was spotted at the Santiago Bernabeu in his residency of Spain, parading the championship belt through the country’s capital city.
And accused recently by UFC color-commentator, Joe Rogan of openly rejecting an immediate title fight rematch with the above-mentioned, Volkanovski as soon as August at UFC 305 in Perth, Ilia Topuria was also recently blasted by Max Holloway – who questioned the lengthy nature of his call out.
Ilia Topuria urged to fight top contenders in UFC return
Himself offering to defend his title against perennial contender, Brian Ortega should Holloway refuse to put his symbolic BMF crown on the line in their pairing, Topuria has been urged to get on with it by Hall of Fame inductee, Daniel Cormier.
“You need the name that comes from the generation before,” Daniel Cormier said on his YouTube channel. “Ilia (Topuria) seems to be taking another approach. I don’t know exactly what it is, though, because he said he wasn’t going to fight Brian Ortega, he said he wasn’t going to fight Max Holloway, and now it sounds like he’s not wanting to fight Alexander Volkanovski again.”
“He has to make a statement saying, ‘This is what I want as the champ’ and then put the ball in Max’s court to deny it,” Cormier explained. “But right now, it’s not coming off great. He’s batting away all these guys with no clear idea of who else there is – it’s just weird. He’s not telling us what’s next, but he’s saying no to a lof things that can be right no. I don’t know that you can do that as the champ.”