Ilia Topuria has become one of the UFC’s brightest stars thanks to his knockout of Max Holloway at UFC 308. His popularity has surged, putting him in the crosshairs of several top fighters. One of those fighters is Shavkat Rakhmonov which nobody could have expected.
In a recent Instagram story, Rakhmonov shared a photo of himself on a beach attempting to choke someone with an armbar. But he turned it into a joke by substituting a picture of Topuria for the individual. In the caption, the fighter wrote about easily beating the featherweight champion.
I heard Topuria wanna fight me. Can fight him with one hand.
Shavkat Rakhmonov via Instagram
Topuria has previously discussed his ultimate plan to become the first-ever UFC three-division champion. The featherweight fighter talked about bulking up and capturing both the lightweight and the welterweight titles in the next three years. It seems like this didn’t go well with the Kazakh fighter who took this opportunity to mock the ‘El Matador.’
Shavkat just posted this on Instagram😬 pic.twitter.com/s9pUAqPWan
— Spinnin Backfist (@SpinninBackfist) November 3, 2024
Shavkat Rakhmonov desperately needs an opponent at UFC 310 after Belal Muhammad pulled out his name. It’s quite surprising to see the ‘Nomad’ engaging in a beef with Topuria instead of searching for a new challenger. Moving up to the welterweight division will be hard on Topuria, but the fighter never ceases to amaze everybody around him.
UFC welterweight talks about Ilia Topuria’s unreal talent
Ilia Topuria‘s talent shines through his well-rounded skill set and fighting intelligence. He demonstrated high-level grappling at UFC 282, submitting accomplished wrestler Bryce Mitchell in the second round. On top of that, his striking abilities were in full show with his knockout wins against Alexander Volkanovski and Max Holloway. Against Josh Emmett, the fighter showed his five-round cardio.
Currently, Topuria has no weakness, and with his unparalleled confidence, he is destined to be a great champion. UFC welterweight Gilbert Burns recently talked about the Georgian-Spaniard’s training camp in his gym. In the interview, the Brazilian couldn’t stop praising the featherweight champion for his complete skill set.
He did half of his camp against Josh Emmett here, and he knocked out three of my teammates. Out, not down, out. With the big gloves And then Topuria was in the middle with a high-level wrestler from freaking Dagestan.. and then he took the guy down. Dagestani wrestler.
Gilbert Burns via Morning Kombat
🔥| A clip has resurfaced of Gilbert Burns telling the story about Ilia Topuria coming to Kill Cliff FC to train for his fight with Josh Emmett, and revealing he knocked out three of his teammates(with 16 oz. gloves), AND took down a Dagestani wrestler. 😳
“He(Topuria) did half… pic.twitter.com/4LKd9FnaZK
— Parry Punch (@ParryPunchNews) October 30, 2024
Topuria has already made his move for a potential lightweight move against champion Islam Makhachev. According to the fighter, he can knock out and submit the Dagestani in the fight. However, Makhachev’s team disagrees, dismissing Topuria’s chances and fueling an intense rivalry.
