{"id":311156,"date":"2025-11-27T22:57:08","date_gmt":"2025-11-27T22:57:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/311156\/"},"modified":"2025-11-27T22:57:08","modified_gmt":"2025-11-27T22:57:08","slug":"topuria-announces-break-from-fighting-i-dont-want-to-hold-up-the-division","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/311156\/","title":{"rendered":"Topuria announces break from fighting: \u2018I don\u2019t want to hold up the division\u2019"},"content":{"rendered":"

Ilia Topuria has come out and confirmed reports<\/a> that he won\u2019t be competing in early 2026, and even implied he\u2019d be okay with an interim title fight if the UFC decides that\u2019s what they want to do.<\/p>\n

Topuria was originally expected to return in January,<\/a> but then plans abruptly changed and that was no longer the case. Then we started hearind reports from journalists close to Topuria\u2019s camp that the Spanish \/ Georgian star wouldn\u2019t be able to compete for several months due to a \u2018personal\u2019 matter.<\/p>\n

Topuria is rumored to be going through a very hush-hush divorce involving two children.<\/p>\n

Now \u201cEl Matador\u201d is speaking out regarding the situation, and has confirmed what we\u2019ve been hearing about a break from fighting.<\/p>\n

\u201cI won\u2019t be fighting in the first quarter of next year,\u201d Topuria wrote on X (formerly Twitter). \u201cI\u2019m going through a difficult moment in my personal life. I want to focus on my children and resolve this situation as soon as possible.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cI don\u2019t want to hold up the division,\u201d he added. \u201cThe UFC will make the matchups needed, and as soon as the matters are resolved I\u2019ll let the UFC know I\u2019m ready to begin my return.\u201d<\/p>\n

As unfortunate as it is for Topuria\u2019s career, this opens the door for the UFC to book a fight they clearly wanted to book: Justin Gaethje vs. Paddy Pimblett<\/a> for an interim UFC lightweight title. Arman Tsarukyan is right there<\/a> as well after beating Dan Hooker at UFC Qatar \u2026 we\u2019re sure if either Gaethje or Pimblett are reluctant to fight on a specific date or for a specific amount of money, Tsarukyan could get subbed right in.<\/p>\n

With the UFC, it\u2019s not always about who is the No. 1 ranked fighter. It\u2019s about who is the most marketable, who is available for a specific date, and who is willing to fight with no extra financial demands. The promotion loves it when there are multiple options available because it means the fighters have less leverage to make unusual demands upon them.<\/p>\n

With Pimblett, Gaethje, and Tsarukyan eager to lock up a title shot \u2014 and Ilia Topuria willing to accept an interim fight in the meantone \u2014 negotiations just got a whole lot less complicated for the UFC. Let\u2019s see what they decide to do in the upcoming days.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Ilia Topuria has come out and confirmed reports that he won\u2019t be competing in early 2026, and even…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":305937,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[444],"tags":[49,48,641,638,82,702],"class_list":{"0":"post-311156","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-mma","12":"tag-sports","13":"tag-ufc-news"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/311156","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=311156"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/311156\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/305937"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=311156"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=311156"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=311156"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}