Ilia Topuria doesn’t agree with Alexander Volkanovski’s statement that the latter’s training partner can bring more damage. In line with this, the 26-year-old reminded the champ that it is now his “time to retire.” and “move on and make way for the new era of Topuria.”
Volkanovski is now preparing to face the young opponent at UFC 298 next month. The champ is coming from a terrible Round 1 KO loss to Islam Makhachev last October. While some believed that the result of the fight could be blamed on Volkanovski’s decision to take the rematch on short notice, others started worrying that the champ finally reached the end of his journey. Volkanovski dismissed the comments, stressing he’s “still that guy.”
In his latest update about his training, “The Great” shared that he’s currently training with UFC lightweight’s Brad Riddell, who is a former kickboxer. The champ then praised Riddell, believing he could copy some of Topuria’s moves.
“I’ve got Brad Riddell over, who’s obviously a great training partner just in general but even stylistically,” Volkanovski shared on his YouTube page. “He’s obviously a very good boxer himself, I think he can sort of simulate Ilia.
“To be quite honest, I think he can give me a lot more problems than what Ilia will and that’s not knocking Ilia, that’s just showing how good Brad is. Obviously, Brad’s had hundreds of kickboxing matches and had a heap of boxing matches so, and he’s a strong, stocky, powerful dude as well so it’s good to have him in.”
Topuria, however, thinks otherwise. In his recent tweet, the undefeated “El Matador” negated Volkanovski’s claim that the training partner could copy him and targeted the champ’s age, echoing the view of others.
“If you think someone can imitate me, that means that your last fight has left you with lasting effects!” Topuria wrote. “I will knock you out in the first round. You’re old, it’s time to retire. It is time to move on and make way for the new era of Topuria.”
The young fighter’s attitude toward Volkanovski is not new, especially after their bout was officially confirmed and booked. In the past months, Topuria also criticized the Australian’s skills, saying, “he’s a good striker, but he’s not a natural wrestler.” Despite this, the champ is confident that he’ll give Topuria his first career loss, promising to “humble” the Georgian-Spanish opponent.
