As talk of Ilia Topuria crossing over to the ring persists, one ex-UFC champion won’t rule out a blockbuster fantasy fight.
En route to multi-weight glory in the UFC, Topuria has long teased a future boxing move, having backed his hands to replicate the kind of violent feats he’s achieved in the cage should he enter the ring down the line.
Topuria most recently knocked out Charles Oliveira, and as the wait for his first UFC lightweight title defense goes on, the Spaniard has been entertaining himself by targeting boxing superstar Terence Crawford.
After Crawford’s victory over Canelo Alvarez this past Saturday, Topuria continued their back-and-forth with a fiery reaction to ‘Bud’ using the same walkout song.
Whether or not the verbal exchanges lead to a crossover fight remains to be seen, but one prominent name from the MMA world puts it within the realm of possibility thanks to one man.
Michael Bisping says Dana White could make Terence Crawford vs Ilia Topuria happen
Dana White promoted Alvarez vs Crawford, marking his return to boxing for the first time since the ‘Money Fight’ between Conor McGregor and Floyd Mayweather in 2017.
The UFC president has consistently shut down talk of other MMA stars following in the Irishman’s footsteps, but former middleweight champ Michael Bisping thinks that could change in light of Topuria’s rise and Crawford callout.
“Because there will be two fan bases tuning in,” Bisping said on his YouTube channel when explaining why the match could come to fruition. “And that’s what happened with the money fight.
“You’ve got all the boxing fans and then you’ve got all the MMA fans, and, of course, you’ve got Dana White in the middle.
“Dana just did business with Terence Crawford. Ilia is under contract with the UFC. So, it’s not unbelievable to think of a world where this might happen,” Bisping added.
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Terence Crawford backed to even beat Ilia Topuria in MMA
While talk of this fantasy fight has largely focused on whether Topuria could be at all competitive in the ring against arguably boxing’s best active fighter, one champion went down a different route with his recent assessment.
During a recent appearance on The Ariel Helwani Show, WBC lightweight titleholder Shakur Stevenson made a bold claim about how Crawford would fare against Topuria in MMA.
“I think ‘Bud’ Crawford is just different,” Stevenson said. “In the boxing ring with him, you’re not going to last more than one round, I don’t think.
“You’re better off in the UFC. ‘Bud’ is a guy that I wouldn’t be surprised if he went to the UFC and beat the s— out of some guys, too. He’s got a great wrestling background. I’ve seen him wrestle real wrestlers on some everyday s—.
“’Bud’ looks bigger than that guy [Topuria], and he’s got longer arms,” he continued. “I just wouldn’t put it past him. I wouldn’t be surprised, come fight night, if they do an MMA fight, if ‘Bud’ done knocked him out or choked him to death, something like that.”