Ilia Topuria will be the UFC’s No. 1 pound-for-pound fighter, however that hasn’t stopped him from repeatedly calling out Terence Crawford for a boxing match, particularly after watching him dismantle Canelo Alvarez this previous Saturday night time.
The disagreement between them has continued to escalate with Crawford successfully dismissing Topuria, which additional enraged the reigning UFC light-weight king as he guarantees to silence the brand new three-division undisputed boxing champion ought to they ever meet. There’s little doubt in an MMA contest Topuria can be a large favourite to beat Crawford, however the identical can’t be stated a couple of boxing match based on UFC legend Matt Brown.
“Topuria has to coach all the abilities. Kicks, knees, elbows, takedowns, grappling, cage work,” Brown stated on the newest episode of The Fighter vs. The Author. “Terence has solely educated his fingers, nonetheless a few years. I do know he wrestled in highschool or some shit like that.
“It’s not a good battle whenever you’re taking away all of your different weapons. You’re primarily saying I can beat you in an unfair battle — unfair for me — and I can beat you with the playing cards stacked in opposition to me. That’s a tricky one to consider. It’s a tricky buy-in.”
Brown admits as a result of it’s a battle and Topuria is arguably the very best of the very best within the UFC presently, you possibly can’t utterly depend him out. Stranger issues have occurred — together with former UFC heavyweight champion Francis Ngannou scoring a knockdown in opposition to Tyson Fury earlier than in the end shedding a razor-close resolution in his boxing debut.
That’s the issue that Brown can’t utterly ignore even when realistically he doesn’t see a path to victory for Topuria over Crawford.
“I don’t suppose he stands an opportunity however individuals do f*cking wonderful issues on this world and it blows us away generally.” Brown stated. “What Francis [Ngannou] did blew me the f*ck away. I’d hate placing it previous him. It’s foolish for anyone to be like after all he’s going to win that battle, he’s f*cking Ilia Topuria! He is aware of how one can battle. It’s ridiculous.
“It’s an unfair battle. It’s actually an unfair battle. He doesn’t practice his fingers as a lot as Crawford does so it’s utterly unfair. However I suppose that’s simply me with my little optimistic, optimistic self-talk particular person there. I’d like to see a prime MMA man go and beat a prime boxer. I’d simply adore it. It’s simply not going to occur almost definitely.”
The one different time a UFC fighter at this degree ventured into boxing was the 2017 showdown between then two-division champion Conor McGregor and undefeated legend Floyd Mayweather.
The lead-up to the occasion was electrical, with McGregor and Mayweather sharing a world tour that produced quite a lot of basic moments because the fighters engaged in a disagreement for the ages. However the battle itself performed out in pretty lopsided style with Mayweather biding his time till he began selecting McGregor aside earlier than scoring a TKO end within the tenth spherical.
Brown knew from the bounce McGregor didn’t have any probability to really threaten Mayweather in a boxing match, and the identical will be stated for Topuria difficult Crawford.
The most important distinction was McGregor and Mayweather turned their battle right into a spectacle and Brown simply see Topuria vs. Crawford having that very same attraction.
“Realistically we bought excited concerning the Conor battle as a result of it was Conor’s shit discuss and Floyd is nice at responding to the shit discuss and get at shit speaking himself,” Brown stated. “The drama was the curiosity there. No less than us within the know.
“The one individuals saying Conor had an opportunity have been the f*cking noobs. These those that began watching when Conor began rising within the UFC. These have been the individuals selecting [him].”
As unlikely because it appears Topuria ever will get his want, Brown can’t fault him for chasing his dream and possibly a hefty paycheck in addition.
“We’re speaking about it, and that’s what they need,” Brown stated. “That’s what Topuria desires, we’re speaking about him. Extra energy to him. Maintain believing, and if he can get that f*cking payday, I hope he does.”
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