Joe Rogan thinks it’s time to start putting Ilia Topuria’s name in the best pound-for-pound list.
Topuria (16-0 MMA, 8-0 UFC) retained his featherweight title when he became the first fighter to knock out Max Holloway (26-8 MMA, 22-8 UFC) in this past Saturday’s UFC 308 headliner in Abu Dhabi.
The unbeaten phenom has now knocked out featherweight greats Alexander Volkanovski and Holloway back-to-back, and Rogan raved about Topuria’s well-rounded skillset.
“Ilia is fast as f*ck,” Rogan said in a recent episode of “The Joe Rogan Experience.” “He’s not slow at all. He doesn’t have any disadvantages. He doesn’t have any weaknesses, man. That’s the thing. That’s why I say he’s the new high-water mark. There’s people that are thinking he’s the best pound-for-pound fighter alive.
“There’s a lot of discussion about that online. It’s a little premature, especially with Jon Jones still out there, and there are other elite guys still out there – Islam Makhachev is another one. There’s a real argument that he’s the best pound-for-pound guy alive, but it’s f*cking close. Ilia – he might be the best.”
Topuria’s first seven professional wins all came by submission until he scored his first-career knockout in November 2019 – his final fight before signing with the UFC. Since then, “El Matador” has fallen in love with his boxing, scoring knockouts in five of his next eight fights.
Ilia vs Islam would be THE superfight.
Lol @ “no known weaknesses”
I miss those old “fight facts”
The good old days when we had fight facts and Vitor’s neck was wider than his head.
oh boy Topuria is cursed now
Is he gonna cry the next time he commentates one of Ilia’s fights and say he could beat Tom Aspinall?
Every new champ is the greatest ever according to anyone on the UFC payroll.
And … Bryce Mitchell tried to fight Topuria while Mitchell had the flu …