Ilia Topuria recently expressed his opinion about witnessing Alexander Volkanovski reclaim the UFC featherweight gold at UFC 314. Topuria’s revelation came during his appearance on the UFC color commentator Joe Rogan’s famous podcast, “The Joe Rogan Experience (JRE)”.
Ilia Topuria Labeled Alexander Volkanovski a Deserving Contender
Topuria earned a second-round TKO victory over Volkanovski during their clash at UFC 298, bagging ‘The Great’s’ featherweight gold in the process. However, in late February, the Spaniard announced that he would vacate the featherweight title to go on a hunt for the UFC lightweight gold.
‘La Leyenda’s’ announcement had Dana White and Co. putting the featherweight title on the line for the main event of UFC 314 between Volkanovski and Diego Lopes. Despite facing some remarkable resistance from Lopes, Volkanovski eventually earned a unanimous decision victory at UFC 314 to reclaim the featherweight gold he had lost to Topuria at UFC 298.
Topuria and Volkanovski may be former rivals, but the former’s words during his appearance in episode no. 166 of JRE MMA Show exhibited his pleasure after witnessing ‘The Great’ reclaim the featherweight title. Topuria rated Volkanovski as a “great” fighter along with labeling him a “deserving” contender to be a two-time UFC champion. He said:
“He [Volkanovski] is so great. I was so happy for him this Saturday because he really deserved to get the title back.”
Ilia Topuria says he was happy to see Alexander Volkanovski reclaim the featherweight title 🤝
“I was so happy for him this Saturday because he really deserved to get that title back.”
🎥 @joerogan #UFC #MMApic.twitter.com/aWcvIuLUaY
— Championship Rounds (@ChampRDS) April 16, 2025
Ilia Topuria has been demanding a shot at Islam Makhachev’s lightweight gold since he moved up to lightweight after relinquishing the featherweight title in February. However, Makhachev’s bosom friend and mentor, Khabib Nurmagomedov, wanted Topuria to prove his worth at lightweight before getting an opportunity to fight his disciple for the title.
During a previous discussion with Henry Cejudo, Nurmagomedov rated Topuria as an undeserving contender to receive a shot at the lightweight gold. ‘The Eagle’ wanted Topuria to prove his might with victories over at least one of the top five lightweight contenders before receiving a title shot.
Makhachev’s camp has been rejecting the offer to fight Topuria on the same grounds. But the Spaniard recently contradicted Nurmagomedov’s explanation for Makhachev’s hesitancy towards fighting him.
In one of his recent X updates, Topuria opined that Nurmagomedov knows Makhachev will lose the lightweight title if he accepts the offer to fight him and, hence, wants to avoid it. It read:
“Khabib knows I’m the one to take the belt from Islam. Only reason he doesn’t want Islam to fight me”.