Following Ilia Topuria’s blockbuster KO over Max Holloway this past weekend at UFC 308, conversations regarding the UFC 2024 Fighter of the Year have intensified with ‘El Matador’ firmly in the mix.
After becoming the first man to knock out Max Holloway this past Saturday at UFC 308, Ilia Topuria catapulted himself into superstardom, becoming one of the UFC’s biggest current stars.
Following his emphatic title defense, ‘El Matador’ shared a brief face-off with his former rival, Alexander Volkanovski, who looks set to rematch the 27-year-old champion in his next bout.
Alexander Volkanovski backs Ilia Topuria to win Fighter of the Year ahead of Alex Pereira
With Topuria having knocked out both ‘Blessed’ Holloway and ‘The Great’ Volkanovski, he has firmly put himself in the conversation for the UFC’s Fighter of the Year for 2024.
The award seemed to surely be heading the way of UFC light heavyweight champion, Alex Pereira, who so far this year has scored finishes over Jamahal Hill, Jiri Prochazka, and Khalil Rountree Jr, and has become the UFC’s biggest star.
Despite that, taking the strength of the opponent into consideration, a large portion of the UFC fanbase believes that Topuria deserves the award, and his rival, Volkanovski agrees.
“I mean, a few things come into play, right, when you’re saving cards, put it this way, if it wasn’t for Pereira saving cards and putting his belt on the line while he’s saving cards, it would be clearly Ilia,” Volkanovski admitted on The Ariel Helwani Show.
“(Pereira) has had three defenses but the two that Ilia took out, man, and finishing both, it’s hard to pick against Ilia, to be honest, and I thought before the weekend, how does Pereira not get it, it was pretty clear but then you go out there and have two massive wins like that… It’s pretty impressive man, I think that takes over (Pereira),” Volk continued.
Volkanovski weighs in on Topuria flirting a fight against Islam Makhachev
Prior to his fight against Holloway, Topuria seemingly got himself involved in a feud with current lightweight champion, Islam Makhachev.
‘El Matador’ stated that he wouldn’t fight Makhachev on the street as he would have to pay for his medical bills and would only fight him in the cage and would look for a submission if they ever fought.
The 27-year-old has fought at lightweight once before during his UFC tenure, picking up a come-from-behind win over Jai Herbert.
Volkanovski has weighed in on the potential of that fight, having shared the Octagon with both current champions.
“The submission I don’t see happening, can he knock Islam out? Yeah, of course. He can knock anyone out in those two divisions. I’ve always said and it’s gonna be the same for Islam, the only way I see these guys losing like myself, is getting caught.
“Who can catch (Makhachev), it’s guys like Ilia. It’s guys like Ilia that can do that so yeah, he could go out there and land (a knockout punch), but that’s his only chance… I just think he’s very unlikely… But you can never count Ilia out in them fights,” the former champion stated.
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