{"id":268906,"date":"2025-11-07T13:56:10","date_gmt":"2025-11-07T13:56:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/268906\/"},"modified":"2025-11-07T13:56:10","modified_gmt":"2025-11-07T13:56:10","slug":"hes-the-most-gifted-man-on-the-planet-in-mma","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/268906\/","title":{"rendered":"\u201cHe\u2019s the most gifted man on the planet in MMA\u201d"},"content":{"rendered":"

The praise keeps pouring down on Ilia Topuria. The latest to shower the UFC double champion with compliments is American fighter Michael Chandler \u2014 one of the most respected and beloved names in the world of mixed martial arts.\u00a0<\/p>\n

The 39-year-old legend, currently ranked No. 12 in the lightweight division, had no hesitation in calling the Spanish-Georgian athlete the best fighter in the world right now.<\/p>\n

\u201cIlia Topuria is the most gifted man on the planet in the world of mixed martial arts. He and Alex Pereira are absolute monsters, but Ilia even has the edge in that comparison,\u201d Chandler said during a recent appearance on Ariel Helwani\u2019s show.<\/p>\n

\"Michael<\/p>\n

Michael Chandler<\/p>\n

Zuffa LLC<\/p>\n

Chandler\u2019s pick for Topuria\u2019s next opponent<\/p>\n

The American fighter also made clear who he would like to see challenge Topuria in his next title defense, although he admits it won\u2019t be easy to decide who truly deserves the shot \u2014 or who can sell more tickets.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019ve said it before. I\u2019d like it to be Gaethje,\u201d Chandler explained. \u201cThere are strong arguments for both. Paddy has never fought for a title and is still relatively new, while Justin has proved himself every single time \u2014 always fight of the night \u2014 but he\u2019s already had a couple of chances at the belt. It\u2019s a tough debate, and that\u2019s why I wouldn\u2019t want to be the promoter.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cNo one can dethrone Topuria\u201d<\/p>\n

Still, Chandler is convinced that neither Justin Gaethje nor Paddy Pimblett has what it takes to dethrone the undefeated champion \u2014 now dominant in both the featherweight and lightweight divisions. In truth, perhaps no one does.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Over the past five years, Chandler himself has fallen to both men who once held the same throne Topuria now occupies.<\/p>\n

Topuria, for his part, is reportedly considering making his first title defense in late January \u2014 if the UFC gives the green light.\u00a0<\/p>\n

That\u2019s when the promotion is expected to stage its first major event of the year under Paramount, the new broadcaster that has secured rights to air UFC fights across the United States, Australia, and Latin America \u2014 for a staggering $1.1 billion per year.<\/p>\n

A leaked event license suggests that the first numbered UFC card of 2026 is set for January 24 in Las Vegas, Nevada, though there is still no official confirmation from Dana White or the promotion itself.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The praise keeps pouring down on Ilia Topuria. The latest to shower the UFC double champion with compliments…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":268907,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[570],"tags":[64,63,786,785,85],"class_list":{"0":"post-268906","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-mma","8":"tag-au","9":"tag-australia","10":"tag-fighting","11":"tag-mma","12":"tag-sports"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/268906","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=268906"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/268906\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/268907"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=268906"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=268906"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=268906"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}