{"id":222624,"date":"2025-10-18T16:40:09","date_gmt":"2025-10-18T16:40:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/222624\/"},"modified":"2025-10-18T16:40:09","modified_gmt":"2025-10-18T16:40:09","slug":"ilia-topuria-drops-update-on-next-fight","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/222624\/","title":{"rendered":"Ilia Topuria Drops Update on Next Fight"},"content":{"rendered":"<p class=\"Paragraph_blockParagraph__I2kr4\">After emerging from his lightweight title fight with Charles Oliveira unscathed, Ilia Topuria initially sought a quick turnaround before the end of the year. <\/p>\n<p class=\"Paragraph_blockParagraph__I2kr4\">While Dana White wasn&#8217;t a fan of El Matador&#8217;s impromptu staredown with streaking Scouser Paddy Pimblett following his <a href=\"https:\/\/www.newsweek.com\/topic\/ufc\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">UFC<\/a> 317 win, all signs pointed to the UFC likely booking Topuria a fight with The Baddy or Justin Gaethje. <\/p>\n<p class=\"Paragraph_blockParagraph__I2kr4\">Although there&#8217;s been radio silence from the UFC regarding Topuria&#8217;s first title defense, the champ shared an update with fans during a Q&amp;A aired on <a href=\"https:\/\/x.com\/RedCorner_MMA\/status\/1979227636061630663\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener nofollow\">Betsson Sport<\/a>, the main sponsor of Inter Milan, revealing that his first title defense may very well take place on the UFC&#8217;s inaugural Paramount event in January.<\/p>\n<p class=\"Paragraph_blockParagraph__I2kr4\">When asked about the possibility of fighting on the card, Topuria simply replied:<\/p>\n<p class=\"Paragraph_blockParagraph__I2kr4\">&#8220;It&#8217;s very possible.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p class=\"Paragraph_blockParagraph__I2kr4\">The big question, of course, is who will Topuria share the Octagon with?<\/p>\n<p class=\"Paragraph_blockParagraph__I2kr4\">Read More: <a href=\"https:\/\/www.newsweek.com\/sports\/mma\/exclusive-ufc-vancouvers-reinier-de-ridder-explains-how-hed-end-khamzat-chimaevs-reign-10889851\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Exclusive: UFC Vancouver\u2019s Reinier de Ridder Explains How He\u2019d End Khamzat Chimaev\u2019s Reign<\/a><\/p>\n<p><img id=\"10898258\" alt=\"UFC lightweight champion Ilia Topuria\" caption=\"LAS VEGAS, NEVADA - JUNE 28: Ilia Topuria of Georgia looks on during a lightweight title bout at UFC 317 at T-Mobile Arena on June 28, 2025 in Las Vegas, Nevada. (Photo by Ian Maule\/Getty Images)\" credit=\"Ian Maule\/Getty Images\" sourcealt=\"\" sources=\"[]\" fetchpriority=\"auto\" loading=\"lazy\" width=\"4912\" height=\"3275\" decoding=\"async\" data-nimg=\"1\" style=\"color:transparent;aspect-ratio:inherit;object-fit:cover\"   src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/GettyImages-2222956837-1.jpg\"\/><\/p>\n<p class=\"Paragraph_blockParagraph__I2kr4\">Read More: <a href=\"https:\/\/www.newsweek.com\/sports\/mma\/anderson-silva-vs-chris-weidman-trilogy-announced-for-jake-paul-undercard-10890388\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Anderson Silva vs Chris Weidman Trilogy Announced For Jake Paul Undercard<\/a><\/p>\n<p class=\"Paragraph_blockParagraph__I2kr4\">If the UFC does book Topuria&#8217;s first title defense for January&#8217;s UFC 324 card, it&#8217;ll be interesting to see who he winds up fighting.<\/p>\n<p class=\"Paragraph_blockParagraph__I2kr4\">Back when El Matador won the title, Dana White was dismissive of the ultimatum coming from Justin Gaethje&#8217;s camp. At the same time, White was also dismissive of Arman Tsarukyan, who weighed in as the backup fighter for the UFC 317 main event, saying that the move was a step in the right direction for the streaking contender.<\/p>\n<p class=\"Paragraph_blockParagraph__I2kr4\">More recently, following the Tsarukyan vs. Hooker booking, Alvaro Colmenero shared an update on the situation during a televised appearance on Eurosport Spain earlier this month, explaining that the UFC wants to book a Topuria-Gaethje fight for January.<\/p>\n<p>Loading twitter content&#8230;<\/p>\n<p class=\"Paragraph_blockParagraph__I2kr4\">Based on the champ&#8217;s comments this week, it sounds like we may be in for a fight between El Matador and The Highlight to kick off the new year, and the UFC&#8217;s partnership with Paramount.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"After emerging from his lightweight title fight with Charles Oliveira unscathed, Ilia Topuria initially sought a quick turnaround&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":222625,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[444],"tags":[49,48,641,3262,638,82,640],"class_list":{"0":"post-222624","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-mma","8":"tag-ca","9":"tag-canada","10":"tag-fighting","11":"tag-ilia-topuria","12":"tag-mma","13":"tag-sports","14":"tag-ufc"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/222624","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=222624"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/222624\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/222625"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=222624"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=222624"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=222624"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}