Ilia Topuria has congratulated Justin Gaethje in his first statement since losing his lightweight title and undefeated record to the veteran in a bloody beatdown at the White House in Washington D.C. on Sunday night.
“Justin, congratulations. You said you’d leave your mark on my face… and you did,” Topuria wrote on Instagram. “You took the sight from my right eye in the first round, and by the end of the second, from my left too.
“No excuses. I had one of the best camps of my life. I came in sharp, prepared, and ready. Last night was your night. That’s the nature of this game. Glory and pain walk side by side.
“I’ll heal. I’ll rest. And I’ll return stronger, wiser, and far more dangerous. And trust me… this story between us is far from over.
“We will have our rematch.”
It will be interesting to see how the 29-year-old Topuria bounces back from this as it was a particularly brutal loss on the biggest possible stage that could easily take a toll on him not just physically, but psychologically too.
Up until this past weekend Topuria was known for his supreme confidence and aura of invincibility that had only grew as his record rose to a perfect 17-0, knocking out some of the sport’s all-time greats like Alexander Volkanovski, Max Holloway and Charles Oliveira along the way.
It’s a different story now though. Topuria’s face was an absolute mess by the end of his fight with Gaethje, and while it was his brother in the corner who finally waved off the fight at the end of the fourth round, his own body language as he slumped over on the stool made it clear he had no desire to continue.
So the aura of invincibility has now shattered, but very few fighters make it through their careers unscathed, and there’s no doubt that Topuria still remains an extremely talented fighter.
In the cold light of day though he’ll have to accept that mistakes were made.
His strategy of taking the fight directly to Gaethje from the opening bell while being careless defensively was always asking for trouble, and suggested that his own ego was getting in the way of smart fight strategy.
Beyond that though, while Topuria appears to already be thinking about a rematch, Sunday night’s fight highlighted the fact that the former two-division champion is clearly undersized for a lightweight.
As such, any talk of fighting Islam Makhachev up at welterweight can be officially wiped off the board, while there’s a real argument to be made that going forward he would be better off dropping back down to featherweight.
