A UFC veteran believes that Ilia Topuria is already on the verge of Jon Jones comparisons.
At UFC 317, Topuria knocked out Charles Oliveira to win the vacant lightweight title with another ruthless knockout victory.
His successful move up to 155 pounds has already seen his stock continue to rise with Topuria now sitting at the top of the pound-for-pound rankings.
The recent run of wins that ‘El Matador’ has put together has led to some questioning whether he should already be in the greatest of all time conversation.
While some don’t expect Topuria to continue fighting for much longer, a UFC record holder believes that the undefeated star may be able to eclipse the consensus GOAT in one area.
Matt Brown says Ilia Topuria’s current win streak might be better than any run in Jon Jones’ career
On the latest episode of MMA Fighting’s ‘The Fighter vs. The Writer’, Matt Brown gave his thoughts on Ilia Topuria’s recent run inside the Octagon.
Brown, who announced his retirement in May of last year, currently holds the record for the most knockouts at welterweight with 13, being only two behind Derrick Lewis for the most in UFC history.
Brown believes that Topuria is already entering the conversation to be the greatest of all time as he outlined one thing that might separate ‘El Matador’ from Jon Jones.
“The guy’s right on the verge. I looked through some of Jones’ resume, and I was comparing some of the three fight runs that he went on, which he went on an undefeated run, but I’m not sure you compare them to this with Ilia. Maybe hindsight is 20/20, but I don’t know it’s as good as this run that Ilia is on.”
Brown, who wants to see Topuria face Arman Tsarukyan next instead of Paddy Pimblett, believes that while it will be incredibly difficult for anyone to match Jones’ longevity at the top, he wasn’t always facing the best of the best.
With the lightweight division, and potentially welterweight if he moves up, being historically one of the most talent-stacked divisions in the sport, Topuria won’t have this issue.
“I want to see the run keep going,” Brown said. “That’s my biggest criticism of Jon Jones. He did eventually kind of taper off in terms of level of competition. I want to see Ilia go fight the baddest dudes and just see if he’s all that.
“If he can beat Arman next, that’s a pretty strong seal right there, especially I guess he probably won’t get the Islam [Makhachev] fight depending on what happens with him and [Jack] Della Maddalena. Outside of moving up to 170, Arman is the one that makes the most sense in terms of greatness.”
- READ MORE: Ilia Topuria clears air on Paddy Pimblett face-off after Dana White said ‘that’s not the fight’
Matt Brown acknowledges that Paddy Pimblett is a bigger fight but says Arman Tsarukyan means more for Ilia Topuria’s legacy
While Matt Brown may want to see Ilia Topuria vs Arman Tsarukyan next, he still understands why the UFC may be more keen on Paddy Pimblett being the next challenger.
In Brown’s opinion, a win over Tsarukyan would be even bigger than his UFC 317 victory over Charles Oliveira.
A lot of people would agree with the stance that beating the #1-contender would be a more impressive feat for Topuria, but following their face-off inside the cage, it looks like Pimblett has already been lined up.
“It sounds like it’s probably going to be set with [Paddy Pimblett] and it’s going to be a gigantic fight,” Brown said. “I’m going to argue to the end it should be Arman. I want to see that fight. I think if Ilia goes out and beats Arman, it certainly adds to the argument that he is the greatest ever.”