Ilia Topuria is not shy about sharing his opinions when asked pointed questions.
Whether it’s his thoughts on his upcoming lightweight title fight with Justin Gaethje, hot takes on other UFC peers, or merely his general opinions on non-fighting topics, Topuria always gives calculated responses.
The UFC superstar is the reigning 155-pound titleholder and preparing to headline June’s anticipated UFC Freedom 250 event.
In the build-up to the unique event, Topuria has been doing some media and before he steps into the cage on the south lawn of the White House he was recently asked about which fighters would be on his “MMA Mount Rushmore” during a longform interview on DeepCut with VicBlends.
The popular question challenges fighters and fans to list who they believe are the top four fighters in UFC history, Topuria began his list with Jon Jones, followed by Georges St-Pierre, Conor McGregor and Anderson Silva rounding out his own.
Jones, St-Pierre and Silva are three of the most common choices for an MMA Mount Rushmore, while McGregor is without question the biggest star in mixed martial arts history.
Topuria is one of 11 two-weight champions in UFC history and his MMA Mount Rushmore included three others.
Jones was a light-heavyweight and heavyweight champ, St-Pierre won the welterweight and middleweight title, while McGregor was a simultaneous two-weight champion at featherweight and lightweight.
Topuria became the UFC’s 145-pound champion before later vacating that title and moving up to 155 pounds and becoming lightweight champion, just like McGregor did earlier in his career.
The UFC recently announced McGregor is set to return to action in July at UFC 329 against Holloway. If McGregor defeats Holloway then it would be within the realm of possibility the organization could look to potentially have Topuria and McGregor fight each other in the future.
Topuria first has to get past Gaethje, which is no easy task.
The 29-year-old Spanish-Georgian fighter is 9-0 in the UFC with consecutive knockout wins in championship bouts against Alexander Volkanovski, Max Holloway and Charles Oliveira, and added during the interview that he plans on keeping his fight with Gaethje on the feet and seeking another KO.
“If I wanted, of course I can take (Gaethje) down and I’d do with him whatever I wanted to do,” Topuria said. “But I really want to give the fans the show, the entertaining part because with Max (Holloway) also, I could've taken him down, controlled him on the ground and submit him on the ground but it wouldn't be as exciting as it was.
“This is the same thing I'm planning to do with Justin. It's gonna be a pure striking fight, at least from my side. If he’s going to try to take me down then we have different plans for that also. Anyway, I’m going to end up knocking him out.”
Topuria’s bout with Gaethje is set to headline the seven-fight card on June 14. Projected bout order for UFC Freedom 250 below:
-- Ilia Topuria vs. Justin Gaethje (for lightweight title)
-- Alex Pereira vs. Ciryl Gane (for interim heavyweight title)
-- Sean O'Malley vs. Aiemann Zahabi
-- Derrick Lewis vs. Josh Hokit
-- Mauricio Ruffy vs. Michael Chandler
-- Bo Nickal vs. Kyle Daukaus
-- Diego Lopes vs. Steve Garcia
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