Following Ilia Topuria’s UFC debut in 2020, UFC boss Dana White pulled him to the side for a conversation following his fight.
This past Saturday, Ilia Topuria took on Charles Oliveira for the vacant UFC lightweight title in the UFC 317 main event at International Fight Week.
Continuing his rise as the biggest star in the sport currently, Topuria scored a brutal first round knockout over Oliveira to become the tenth fighter in UFC history to win a title in two different weight classes.
Immediately after his huge win, ‘El Matador’ faced off with his potential first title defense as Paddy Pimblett made his way into the cage for an impromptu face off.
Topuria’s first conversation with Dana White resurfaces
The Spaniard made his debut in the promotion during an extremely difficult time in the sporting world, when COVID-19 was running rampant.
Despite that, Topuria accepted an opportunity to take on Youssef Zalal on UFC Fight Island. Topuria was a slight underdog heading into his promotional debut, as the majority of fans weren’t aware of his superstar skillset.
Coming into the UFC, Topuria was widely regarded as a dominant grappler, and against Zalal he did showcase his dominance on the ground for a large majority of the fight.
By the end of their three round fight, Topuria had landed five takedowns from nine attempts, and since then, he has never landed more than three takedowns in a fight.
Immediately after his impressive debut win, UFC boss Dana White pulled Topuria to the side to talk to him about his performance.
“You took that f—— fight on short notice, right, and you fought a bad motherf—– for three rounds, you know what I mean? That was a perfect fight for you, you needed a guy like that to get in here and show you the levels and this kid fought four times this f—— year, so he’s in great shape,” White told Topuria.
“Thank you, Dana. My dream came true tonight,” Topuria responded.
Ilia Topuria accused of running scared from deserving lightweight contender
After facing off with Pimblett following his recent win, Topuria has been accused of running ‘scared’ by longtime contender Arman Tsarukyan.
Tsarukyan weighed in as the backup for the main event and although he wasn’t needed, he was likely hoping that it would secure the next title shot.
Despite that, it is unclear as of this moment who ‘El Matador’ will defend his lightweight title against first with there being several options.