{"id":738833,"date":"2026-06-15T22:04:14","date_gmt":"2026-06-15T22:04:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/738833\/"},"modified":"2026-06-15T22:04:14","modified_gmt":"2026-06-15T22:04:14","slug":"whats-next-for-ilia-topuria-after-brutally-losing-his-belt-at-ufc-freedom-250","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/738833\/","title":{"rendered":"What\u2019s next for Ilia Topuria after brutally losing his belt at UFC Freedom 250?"},"content":{"rendered":"

Ilia Topuria repeatedly hurt Justin Gaethje to the body, and seemed mere moments away from defending his lightweight title at UFC Freedom 250. Except the veteran brawler was used to digging deep after enduring all these wars in the Octagon, and Gaethje weathered the storm and turned the tide to completely break Topuria<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Instead of continuing his unbeaten streak at the UFC White House event, Topuria was battered beyond recognition<\/a> and lost his title as he didn\u2019t answer the bell for the fifth round<\/a>.<\/p>\n

So after experiencing this much adversity and suffering his first career loss, where does Ilia Topuria go from here?<\/p>\n

The now former two-division champion was rushed to the hospital immediately after<\/a> the UFC White House event, and will need some time to recover and heal \u2014 both from the physical and mental toll that type of brutal loss brings. Topuria was supremely confident coming into this contest<\/a>, and was guaranteeing and even celebrating this \u201cwin\u201d before it even happened<\/a>. It\u2019ll certainly be an adjustment dealing with his first ever loss after a decade of almost pure dominance, but Topuria will have multiple good options upon his return.<\/p>\n

\"LAS<\/a><\/p>\n

Photo by Chris Unger\/Zuffa LLC<\/p>\n

Ilia Topuria vs. Paddy Pimblett<\/p>\n

In the aftermath of UFC Freedom 250, Paddy Pimblett called for a rematch with the newly crowned champion in Justin Gaethje, boasting how he did far better than Topuria in their interim title clash back in January 2026.<\/p>\n

That immediate rematch with Gaethje doesn\u2019t quite make sense though, and there\u2019s far better options and more deserving challengers right now like Arman Tsarukyan or even Islam Mackhachev, should he chose to drop back down to lightweight.<\/p>\n

While those more logical championship matches could sort out the top of the division, a match between Topuria and Pimblett for the next title shot makes more sense. The two fighters have repeatedly beefed online for years<\/a>, and given their state in the division and each of their losses to Gaethje, it could make a lot of sense to finally book that match up.<\/p>\n

\"LAS<\/a><\/p>\n

Photo by Chris Unger\/Zuffa LLC via Getty Images Zuffa LLC via Getty Images<\/p>\n

Topuria vs. Arman Tsarukyan for the \u2026 vacant UFC title?<\/p>\n

There\u2019s also a decent chance that Justin Gaethje simply retires <\/a>after finding his storybook ending, as the 37-year-old champion hinted at the possibility and noted in the post-fight press conference that he will first talk to his wife and evaluate the decision. Should that happen, the UFC lightweight title will be vacant once again, and Topuria will be a natural fit to challenge for the belt.<\/p>\n

In that scenario, the other logical challenger would again be Tsarukyan, should he manage to fix issues with UFC officials \u2014 and perhaps on emotional regulation<\/a> as well. The Russian has won 10 of his last 11 UFC bouts, and certainly deserves a title shot, but he has also been basically frozen out of his deal and relegated to having several <\/a>side quests<\/a> \u2014 and even more brawls<\/a> \u2014 in other sports.<\/p>\n

Tsarukyan and Topuria have also traded barbs<\/a> in the past, making it not just a logical and intriguing match up, but also an easy fight to sell to the public.<\/p>\n

\"WASHINGTON,<\/a><\/p>\n

Photo by Jeff Bottari\/Zuffa LLC<\/p>\n

Topuria vs. Mauricio Ruffy? A return to featherweight?<\/p>\n

Should neither bout materialize \u2014 or in Tsarukyan\u2019s case, be of interest for the promotion \u2014 there\u2019s also an intriguing match up with someone like Mauricio Ruffy, who had a showcase win on the same UFC White House card. There\u2019s perhaps a possible return to featherweight as well. Topuria has a win over the reigning champ in Alex Volkanovski, and as he was noticeably undersized at lightweight, perhaps a return to the division he previously ruled could still be in the cards. That\u2019s only if he can even still make 145 lbs though.<\/p>\n

Either way, Topuria is still just 29, and will have a lot of good options upon his eventual return. In the mean time, the former champion should heal up and eventually look to improve and use the learnings from his first ever loss to further round out his MMA game.<\/p>\n

\u201dThat\u2019s the nature of this game. Glory and pain walk side by side,\u201d Topuria said on his first statement after losing<\/a>. \u201cI\u2019ll heal. I\u2019ll rest. And I\u2019ll return stronger, wiser, and far more dangerous. And trust me \u2026 this story between us is far from over. We will have our rematch.\u201d<\/p>\n

FOR COMPLETE UFC FREEDOM 250 RESULTS, COVERAGE AND HIGHLIGHTS CLICK HERE<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Ilia Topuria repeatedly hurt Justin Gaethje to the body, and seemed mere moments away from defending his lightweight…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":100830,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[570],"tags":[64,63,786,40762,785,85,1396,125620],"class_list":["post-738833","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-mma","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-fighting","tag-latest-ufc-mma-news","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\/738833","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=738833"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/738833\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/100830"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=738833"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=738833"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=738833"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}