Paddy Pimblett<\/a> as interesting options for the Spaniard’s return.\u00a0<\/p>\nMeanwhile, since his dethroning of Topuria to capture lightweight gold, Gaethje has said he will not grant an immediate rematch to \u2018El Matador,’ emphasizing that the former must secure victory against a top-ranked lightweight to claim the title opportunity.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Now, with White\u2019s comments, it seems that UFC is pushing Topuria for an immediate rematch, given how big a star the former champion is for the promotion. But Alvarez feels the rematch does not make sense, noting that Geathje has nothing to gain from the fight.\u00a0<\/p>\n
In his recent appearance on \u2018The Bohnfire Podcast\u2019, Alvarez stressed he does not like the rematch idea, as Gaethje beat Topuria decisively, raised questions about the stakes for \u2018The Highlight’, and urged the ex-rival to demand fair compensation for accepting the fight.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cI don\u2019t like that idea,\u201d Alvarez said on The Bohnfire. \u201cWhat\u2019s in it for Justin? They better give him $10 million, $15 million, $20 million dollars,\u201d Alvarez said.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Gaethje spent years chasing the undisputed lightweight championship before finally reaching the top of the division. Alvarez believes that accomplishment puts him in a position where he does not need to immediately accept a high-risk rematch unless the UFC makes it financially worthwhile.<\/p>\n
\u201cIf I\u2019m Justin, I\u2019m going, \u2018I\u2019m going to need $15 million or $20 million to fight that guy. There\u2019s zero to gain.\u2019 If it\u2019s not money, there\u2019s zero to gain. It wasn\u2019t close, and he\u2019s at the mountain top. It\u2019s everything to gain for Topuria. There\u2019s nothing for Justin there,\u201d Alvarez added.<\/p>\n
Check out Eddie Alvarez\u2019s comments below:<\/p>\n<\/p>\n
Alvarez is not the only former UFC champion who feels the rematch doesn’t make sense; the former welterweight champion, Belal Muhammad, has shared a similar opinion to the 42-year-old.\u00a0<\/p>\n
In his recent YouTube video, Muhammad weighed in on the ongoing speculation that Topuria might get an immediate rematch against Gaethje. The former welterweight champion argued that \u2018The Highlight’ made the Spaniard quit during their fight and should not ask for an immediate rematch.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Muhammad went further, suggesting that a Paddy Pimblett showdown for Topuria’s return would be an interesting matchup.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cWhat do I think about it? I don\u2019t think Topuria deserves it. It was a great fight, but he made you quit,\u201d Muhammad said. \u201cLet\u2019s get you another fight, Paddy Pimblett\u2019s right there, I think the Paddy Pimblett fight makes the most sense.\u201d<\/p>\n
Check out Belal Muhammad\u2019s comments below:<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"A former rival of Justin Gaethje has explained why he should think twice about an Ilia Topuria rematch…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":888827,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[570],"tags":[64,63,52586,786,17499,8944,785,17498,85,787],"class_list":["post-888826","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-mma","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-eddie-alvarez","tag-fighting","tag-ilia-topuria","tag-justin-gaethje","tag-mma","tag-paddy-pimblett","tag-sports","tag-ufc"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/888826","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=888826"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/888826\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/888827"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=888826"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=888826"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=888826"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}