WASHINGTON – If Justin Gaethje follows through with what his game plan purportedly will be Sunday, his opponent thinks he has a couple chances to win.

And as the old adage goes, those chances would be: “slim,” and “none.”

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Interim champion Gaethje (27-5 MMA, 10-5 UFC), will try to take the lightweight title from champ Ilia Topuria (17-0 MMA, 9-0 UFC) when they meet in the UFC Freedom 250 main event at the White House. Topuria is a former featherweight champion and one of 11 two-division champions in UFC history.

Topuria is as much as a 6-1 betting favorite in the fight and largely is expected to dominate Gaethje — particularly from the Spaniard’s own comments. And though even he will admit that’s why they fight the fights, he’s not backing down from his bold prediction that he’ll take Gaethje out inside the first half-round of the fight.

“I think everyone knows that it’s a very tough matchup for Justin – that it’s basically impossible to get the victory,” Topuria told MMA Junkie and other reporters Tuesday in Washington. “But that’s the beautiful thing about our business, about the fight business: that anything can happen in a fight.

Everyone has a different opinion. Everyone sees the fight from a different perspective, so that’s why they are going to watch.”

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Gaethje, widely regarded as the most exciting fighter in UFC history thanks to his 15 post-fight bonus awards in 15 fights, is known for his penchant for wild slugfests and bloody battles. He’s intimated in the buildup to fight week that he’ll press Topuria, who has been out of action for more than a year, and get him uncomfortable.

But Topuria says he’s already taken out the blueprint for that game plan against him when he beat Charles Oliveira to win the lightweight title.

“If he’s going to do what he’s been saying, that he’s going to try to move forward and all that, that’s all I need,” Topuria told MMA Junkie. “That’s all I need. Just try to move forward and I’m going to have half the job already done. … If he’s going to try to move forward, I’m going to knock him out like in the first minute or the second minute. He moves forward in a lot of fights and even, you know, when he has lost like Charles is his quickest loss.

“Charles, he did the same. He tried to move forward. Watch the fight, what he did. He was trying to move forward all the time. His game plan was the same as Justin is saying. But what happened? How long it took me to knock him out? What Charles has and Justin doesn’t is that he’s very dangerous on the ground. But with Justin, I’m not going to have that. I don’t have any pressure because even if he’s able to take me down, which I see it impossible, what’s he going to do on the ground? Hold me for how long? What’s he going to do? That’s why I see this fight short. I don’t think – I know for a fact that if he’s going to try to move forward, I’m going to knock him out in two minutes. I’m too good for him.”

This article originally appeared on MMA Junkie: Topuria on Gaethje’s UFC White House odds: ‘Basically impossible’