Ilia Topuria Says Islam's Avoiding Him, Will Kick Paddy Pimblett's Ass

TMZ

Ilia Topuria is opening up on his brutal (and shocking) knockout of Charles Oliveira ... and talking about who could be next -- and he's putting two big UFC stars on notice!

Transcript

00:00I feel amazing. I feel very good. I was supposed to go back yesterday to Spain. Unfortunately,

00:07our fight was canceled. So here I am in Vegas.

00:11You're still hanging in Vegas? Are you having fun with the family? You're relaxing? What's

00:16been going on since Saturday night?

00:19Yeah, we had a small celebration at home after the fight. And we were supposed to go back

00:26to home yesterday, but our flight was canceled. So here we are in Vegas.

00:32Well, I hope you get home soon, safely. Let me ask you about the pound for pound thing

00:37first, Ilya, because it's the newest thing now that the rankings come out. I know Saturday

00:41you said, hey, it's more something for the media. I'm not really too concerned about it.

00:45But now that you are recognized as not just the champion at 155, but the top pound for

00:50pound guy in the entire sport, does it matter to you, Ilya?

00:53It's always nice and great when you get those kind of recognitions. And they put you as a

01:00number one fighter in the world, the pound for pound number one. That's something great.

01:05Not many people can say that. So I'm very proud about that fact.

01:12Absolutely, as you should be. Ilya, do you think this is the greatest three-fight streak,

01:18win streak in the history of this sport? I mean, not just the way you ended the fight,

01:23but the caliber of opponent that you have faced with, obviously with Alex Volkanovski,

01:27with Max Holloway, and now Charles Oliveira. I think I did the math. You've knocked all

01:32three of those guys out in like 22 minutes or so of fighting. Is the greatest three-stretch

01:37fight in the history?

01:38I think so. I think so. Three legends. As you mentioned, Alexander Volkanovski, he was

01:47dominating the whole division. Max Holloway, another legend in the sport, and now Charles

01:53Oliveira. I don't know. I think that it's the greatest run. I think so.

02:01It's hard to disagree with that. You know, Ilya, I know you said this to a bunch of people

02:06as you were heading into the fight with Charles, that you were going to put him to sleep and

02:11you weren't going to do it in the fourth round or the fifth round. You were going to do it in

02:14the first round. And I think, I think a lot of people said, oh, this guy's crazy. Like,

02:17there's no way he's going to do this to Charles Oliveira. And then what do you do? You do exactly

02:21that. Where do you get that?

02:24What I know.

02:25Yeah. How do you know, Ilya? How do you know? Because you did something nobody else could

02:29do.

02:30Yeah. Because I know what I'm able to do inside that octagon. And when I, when I used to say

02:34this, they think that I'm cocky and it comes from cockiness. But then in reality, it's

02:40because I know what I'm able to do inside that octagon. I know how skillful I am. I know

02:46how hard I work for, for every fight. So when I get the confirmation of the fights and I

02:53started to watch Charles, Charles, Charles fights, I was like, I want to knock him out

02:59in the first round because all I need from someone is him to stop in the middle of the

03:07octagon with me and really bang with me. Right. And then I'm going to do the rest of

03:12the job. And with Charles, all he does all the time, he walks forward. He's a warrior.

03:18He's a lion. So I knew it. I knew it. Like, I'm not going to knock him out in the first

03:25round. Once he's going to start to walk forward, I'm going to start to, I'm going to start with

03:32my combinations and I'm going to put him to sleep. But at the end of the day, all the

03:37respects for Charles. We respect him. We appreciate for everything he has done in the sport. He's

03:44an amazing, uh, sportsman, an amazing human being. He represents, uh, good values. He's

03:51always surrounded by his family, teammates and friends. So I don't have anything else to

03:58say about him than respectful words. Yeah. Yeah. That was very cool to see you guys embrace

04:04after the fight to a, a really awesome moment of sportsmanship there. So basically he was

04:08a willing dance partner. He wasn't going to run from you. He, he was going to stand there

04:11and he would stand in front of you in exchange. And you knew you were going to get the better

04:15of that. At some point that I was a little bit sad because I, I didn't want to, to fight

04:20against him since the beginning. My, my real goal always was Islam, but since he, he decided

04:31to run away, it has to be Charles. Do you think he is, did Islam go up to 170 Ilya to avoid

04:39you? Is he scared to fight you? Listen, I think that he took a great decision. If, if the years

04:50you would offer him to fight against Justin Gaethje or some, some, some, another contender

04:56in the division, I think that he, he, he would stay at 155. But with me coming up, he was

05:04like, I don't have to take this risk. I'm going to move up to, to the 170. I'm going to try

05:13to get another belt. And that's all because he, he knows that I'm, I'm, I'm dangerous.

05:18Whereas he knows that I'm going to put him to sleep. Even Khabib. The only reason they

05:23don't want me to, to, to fight against him because they know that I'm going to bait him.

05:29With that said, what ideally would you like to do, Ilya? I mean, I think you're obviously

05:35the hottest guy in the promotion right now. I think there are.

05:37Ideally, I would, I would love to see Islam getting the title and the UFC letting me go up

05:47to one 17 and getting the third belt. How important. Nobody. We said 10 people have

05:53done two belts, Ilya. And obviously you are not 10th guy now, men and women. How important to be

05:58the first to do three. I mean, that is almost incomprehensible. I always used to say like this,

06:04if someone did it, I also can do it. And if no one did it, I can be the first one to do it. So

06:09here we are. I'm very excited.

06:12Let me ask you about the strength, Ilya, because, um, uh, you know, obviously Charles is a tall guy.

06:19Did you feel like you were at a strength disadvantage? Did you feel like nothing like

06:24that being one 45 versus one 55, any disadvantage? I didn't feel any disadvantage.

06:29So any concerns about being at one 70 that your power carries, or do you feel like that's power

06:34that would carry anywhere? I'm gonna, I'm gonna be okay. I'm gonna feel comfortable in any weight

06:40class. Like they always used to say that they are taller than me because I'm not the tallest guy in

06:47the room. Yeah. But at the same time, I'm big. Yeah. I'm big, short, but big. Yeah. I don't know

06:59if anyone's going to question your power. I mean, nobody with a brain at this point, I would, I would

07:03think, but you never, cause you never know. Um, the Patty Pimlet thing. Now I'm seeing reports that

07:11he might be fighting Gaethje. So what is going on with Patty? All the fans around the world, I think

07:20that they want to see that fight. Not the same time. Yeah. I have to be honest. I think it's one of the

07:28easiest fights that I could have in, in, in, in the lightweight division, uh, because, uh, I don't

07:36know, I can do with him, whatever I want to do in reality. It's like, it's very excited fight

07:41for the fans. Yeah. Well, I'm gonna, I'm gonna enjoy a lot, the whole process. And at the same

07:48time, it's a fight where I'm going to be able to shine once again. Yeah. Probably a good paycheck

07:55too with that one. That's for sure. How you, because you're such a prophet, how would you win

08:03that fight? What would be the prediction? I know you probably haven't studied him yet as closely as

08:07you will, if it's made, but how would you win? When would you win? Give us some of that Ilya

08:11prediction magic. Against Patty. Yeah. Oh, I have to think about it because I don't know. Hold you.

08:19I won't hold you to it. So you can change your prediction. I, I, I, I promise you, I, I could

08:26like choose the way I want to finish. I round be like, that's for sure. He's gonna, he's not

08:36gonna stay there for more than one round with me, but I don't know. Maybe it's gonna be cool

08:43to submit him in the ground with the, with a triangle trope from, from, from the Mount,

08:50something like that. Like, as I told him, put my in his forehead.

08:57You're being very specific. This is like Gordon Ryan putting how he's going to win in a BJJ

09:03tournament in an envelope. And then you, you winning that way. This is, this is incredible.

09:08Were you impressed by his performance over Chandler? I think a lot of people thought that Patty was a

09:12popular guy, not a challenge, a title contender, and maybe their minds were changed by his

09:17performance with Chandler. You weren't though. I wasn't impressed. I just saw an average level

09:23of competition in that fight. I, I, I thank you so much for doing this. First of all, uh, last one,

09:30what's the motivation is your, is the motivation to become, you know, super well-known? Is it to be

09:35incredibly wealthy? Is it to become the greatest of all time? What, what's, what's driving you? What, what,

09:41what, what gets that fire going as you are only 28 years old? And I mean, the world is in front of

09:47you here. My motivation is to inspire people. And the only way to, to, to inspire people is to give

09:55them the, the, the example. So I want to be a role model for the new generations. And of course I want

10:04to live a life and I want to give a life to my family. That's, I don't know. You know what I

10:13mean? I absolutely. You look like your, your little son, look, he could be an MMA champion in

10:18the future. It looks like you asked me all the time that he wants to fight. He's like, dad, train

10:24me, train me, train me. It seemed like he was training you a little bit too. Wouldn't you?

10:31You know how brutal it is. It was like, why are you connecting with the, with the, with the right

10:36hand? You had to do the apricot. Right. That was so, it was too funny. Would you let him go into

10:41fighting? You know how brutal of a, um, a profession it is. Would you let him or not so sure?

10:46If he wants so, of course, I want him to be happy. Whatever he decides, I, I, I will

10:54be with him. The only, the only thing that, uh, I don't negotiate with him is that he has

11:01to put effort into anything he does in life. Whatever he decides, I'm okay with that.

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