After yet another impressive knockout victory on Saturday night, Ilia Topuria appears to be on top of the world.
The featherweight champion defended his belt with a vicious knockout over Max Holloway in the main event of UFC 308. But he appears to have a limited number of top contenders, and is expected to rematch Alexander Volkanovski in his next outing.
His next viable contender would be Saturday’s back-up opponent Diego Lopes, who is the next highest ranked featherweight. But there isn’t a clear interest in seeing that fight just yet, with fans happy to see the Australian get another title fight off two straight knockout losses.
Aljamain Sterling believes he has the formula to beat Ilia Topuria
One man who may emerge as an eventual challenger for Ilia Topuria’s throne is former bantamweight champion Aljamain Sterling. The wrestling expert moved up in weight after losing his belt to Sean O’Malley, and reckons his game plan would neutralise the impressive striking of the champion.
After winning his debut at the weight against Calvin Kattar at UFC 300, Sterling has landed a spot at number nine in the rankings. But a victory over the undefeated Movsar Evloev at UFC 310 in December would land him in the top five.
“If I were to fight him, god willing, I beat Movsar and I do get the crack, I do think I have a great style to neutralize his offense,” Sterling said during a recent YouTube video discussing the weekend’s action. “Bro, most of these guys are striking with him. I ain’t doing that, bro!
“I ain’t doing that. We’re sitting there looking for a takedown. I have to make it a grappling match. I’m trying to the the W, I’m not trying to get my brain and my head sent to the next dimension again. I’m cool on that.”
Aljamain Sterling fears Ilia Topuria fight could affect his other friendships
One issue that could arise for the former bantamweight is his close friendship with current 135lb champion Merab Dvalishvili. Both he and Topuria are Georgian, which has led the pair to have a very close relationship.
And Sterling doesn’t want to harm his friendship with Dvalishvili by facing one of his pals, adding: “Merab and I are boys. Merab is also boys with Ilia, so I don’t know what that turns into.”
However, he is currently focused on Evloev and the unique challenge that is posed by that fight. “Thankfully I don’t have to worry about that anytime soon,” he joked. “I’ve got one other tough opponent in front of me and then we kind of go from there.”
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