It’s no secret that Ilia Topuria is incredibly self-confident, which has occasionally led to some backlash from fans.
From Topuria celebrating his UFC 317 win before he had stepped inside the Octagon to him changing his social media bios ahead of time, ‘El Matador’ likes to make early predictions.
This past weekend, he delivered on exactly what he told fans he would do as Topuria stopped Charles Oliveira in the first round.
Claiming the vacant lightweight title has now seen Topuria elevated to pound-for-pound number one status, having only been in the UFC for five years.
Several years before he would win the featherweight belt, the undefeated star called his shot following one of the most impressive UFC title fight performances in recent years.
Ilia Topuria predicted that he’d become UFC featherweight champion after Alexander Volkanovski dominated Max Holloway
On July 3 of 2022, Ilia Topuria shared his thoughts on what went down at UFC 276, which took place the day before to headline International Fight Week.
The co-main event saw Alexander Volkanovski close out his rivalry with Max Holloway in style by making a statement in their trilogy fight.
After fans claimed that Holloway deserved to win their UFC 251 rematch, the defending champion left no room for debate at UFC 276, recording a shutout victory over ‘Blessed’ that many believe is his finest performance inside the Octagon to date.
At the time, Topuria was still rising up the featherweight ranks and was yet to face a ranked opponent, having gone 4-0 in the UFC with three consecutive knockout wins.
‘El Matador’ wrote on X that after watching Volkanovski’s near-flawless performance, it had only confirmed to him that he would hold the 145-pound gold in the future, but fans weren’t so sure at this stage.
‘Volk flattens you you little freak.’
‘Yeah win a top 10 first.’
‘Better prepare harder for your next fight…..Jai [Herbert] had you on the ropes and you looked gassed……There are better fighters than Jai waiting on you my man……..’
‘No lol. Volk batters you.’
‘Yeah maybe in 10 years when Volk retires.’
‘Man’s a stand up comedian now?’
‘I like you bro but Idk how you watch that and make that conclusion.’
Ilia Topuria would prove his prediction to be correct when dethroning Alexander Volkanovski at UFC 298
Remarkably, as Ilia Topuria began to seriously emerge as one of the top featherweights in the world, Alexander Volkanovski remained at the top of the division.
Their paths would eventually cross at UFC 298 in February of 2024 where once again, ‘El Matador’ rubbed some fans up the wrong way with his bold predictions for the fight.
After predicting in 2022 that he would become the featherweight champion, Topuria realized this accomplishment in Anaheim, California by stopping Volkanovski in the second round.
He’d go on to beat the man that Volkanovski dominated at UFC 276, Max Holloway, in his first and only title defense before vacating the belt to move up.