Ilia Topuria is confident he would have his way with fellow UFC champion Sean O'Malley.
After dominating Marlon Vera at UFC 299, bantamweight champion O’Malley (18-1 MMA, 10-1 UFC) called out featherweight champ Topuria, who shut him down. Topuria vouched for his friend Merab Dvalishvili instead.
However, if Topuria (15-0 MMA, 7-0 UFC) was to fight O’Malley, “El Matador” predicts an easy night.
“However I want.” Topuria told La Sueur on how he’d beat O’Malley. “To be honest, however I want – I can do with him whatever I want. I can just play with him. Like, how you want me to finish him?
“It’s like the same question I ask to all the guys that I’m facing: Just tell me how you want me to finish you. I can do that. He’s a world champion, and I respect him. But he has nothing to do with me.”
For now, Topuria is focused on making his first title defense against ex-champ Max Holloway (26-7 MMA, 22-7 UFC), who knocked out Justin Gaethje to claim the BMF title at UFC 300. Topuria initially made a stipulation that Holloway’s BMF title has to be on the line, but appears to no longer insist on that.
“I just have a clear message for him, which is I want to fight him no matter the belts, no matter what,” Topuria said. “He’s been talking a lot, so he has to be the next one. He has to be. Hopefully he signs the contract and he will be able to show up whatever the date is, but that’s the fight.”
