{"id":723154,"date":"2026-06-08T13:55:08","date_gmt":"2026-06-08T13:55:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/723154\/"},"modified":"2026-06-08T13:55:08","modified_gmt":"2026-06-08T13:55:08","slug":"topurias-prediction-for-gaethje-ill-put-him-to-sleep-in-the-1st-round","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/723154\/","title":{"rendered":"Topuria\u2019s prediction for Gaethje: \u2018I\u2019ll put him to sleep in the 1st round\u2019"},"content":{"rendered":"

Ilia Topuria is putting on his mystic cap and sharing a prediction for his UFC White House<\/a> fight against Justin Gaethje: a 1st round KO.<\/p>\n

Topuria is extremely confident coming into his Sunday, June 14th fight against \u201cThe Highlight.\u201d And why wouldn\u2019t he be, given his impressive knockout wins over Alexander Volkanovski, Max Holloway, and Charles Oliveira? That\u2019s a legendary streak if there ever was one, and Justin Gaethje\u2019s style seems to play right into<\/a> Topuria\u2019s strengths.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe\u2019s a great guy, a great fighter who\u2019s done a lot of things in this sport,\u201d Topuria said. \u201cI, as a fan, am quite a follower of his style. He is a real fighter. But on a technical and skills level, I see he is below me. Many will say that I am arrogant, but none have shown me that I am wrong. I have no doubt that he won\u2019t be able to do anything to me. I have the complete faith that I will put him to sleep in the first round. I don\u2019t see any chance for him. I want to consider that I could take more than one round, but I don\u2019t see any possibility.\u201d<\/p>\n

Asked if he was worried about Gaethje\u2019s ability<\/a> to generate chaos in the cage, Topuria shrugged.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m not chaotic, I bring calm in all that chaos,\u201d he replied. \u201cI know my skills on a mental level, on a technical level, on a physical level. What can he surprise me with?\u201d<\/p>\n

Topuria has said<\/a> that he starts every training camp with a breakdown of what his opponent will try to do, so he can counter it all en route to another blistering victory. Now he shared what he\u2019d gleaned from Gaethje\u2019s other performances.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhat he is going to try to do is very clear,\u201d Topuria said. \u201cHe\u2019s going to try to go out with calf kicks, he will try to hurt me in the lead leg, maybe try to head kick me because I have a history where I ate some kick like this. But the fight? If you go to the fight, once we get out of the clinch, he will have a very high energy expenditure. I do not know if he is going to opt for that option, then he has to stand in the fight. Physically, I am a thousand times better prepared than Justin.\u201d<\/p>\n

He\u2019ll get his chance to prove that claim and make his 1st round KO prediction a reality on the White House lawn this Sunday June 14th.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Ilia Topuria is putting on his mystic cap and sharing a prediction for his UFC White House fight…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":723155,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[570],"tags":[64,63,786,785,85,1396,125620],"class_list":["post-723154","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-mma","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-fighting","tag-mma","tag-sports","tag-ufc-news","tag-ufc-white-house-2026"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/723154","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=723154"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/723154\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/723155"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=723154"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=723154"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=723154"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}