Ilia Topuria was battered in the first loss of his pro MMA career, and while he was competitive in defeat, one ex-UFC slugger thinks he may never be the same.
Topuria headlined the historic UFC Freedom 250 card this past Sunday in a lightweight title unification bout against Justin Gaethje. The story was there for both men as Topuria looked to continue his dominance and possibly set up a super fight with welterweight champion Islam Makahchev. For Gaethje, it was likely the last opportunity he’d get to earn the undisputed distinction.
Ultimately, it was Gaethje who emerged victorious after Topuria didn’t get off his stool for the start of the fifth round. Topuria’s face was a mess and UFC CEO Dana White assumed that the former lightweight champion suffered a broken orbital.
MMAFighting‘s latest edition of “The Fighter vs. The Writer” saw former UFC bruiser Matt Brown share his belief that Topuria might’ve left UFC Freedom 250 with a lot more than physical damage.
“His own mental aura of invincibility [could have been shattered],” Brown said. “He now knows that there is a limit to his own abilities. He knows that he can be stopped or that he can be put to the point where he has to quit on the stool. He may not even think about it consciously. He may be able to brainwash that out of himself but subconsciously somewhere deep in his heart of hearts, he knows. His soul knows. There is an end point here. You’re not going to fight to the death, like we all like to say we do. That’s not actually who you are inside.
“That’s not a knock on Ilia Topuria either. The fact that he went as far as he did in that fight is pretty f*cking impressive. But we all have a breaking point. Say what the f*ck you want about it, we all have a f*cking breaking point. You can talk about how you’ll fight to the death all you want. There’s very few people — and when I say very view, I mean one out of a billion at best, that actually have that in them.”
Topuria was full of confidence going into his showdown with Gaethje. He even uploaded a video of a mock funeral where he put a flower in front of “The Highlight’s” picture. He also had a mock celebration for what he thought would be a victory over Gaethje. While Topuria has done such a premature celebration in the past, it didn’t work this time.
“He may not come back the same,” Brown said.
Do you think Ilia Topuria will allow his first career loss to define him, or will he bounce back stronger than ever? Drop your opinion in the comments below.
