Anthony
Smith believes Ilia
Topuria should return quickly to recover from the loss against
Justin
Gaethje.
Topuria (17-1) put his lightweight title on the line against
Gaethje (28-5) in the main event at
UFC White House on Sunday. While Topuria was a massive
favorite, Gaethje bloodied up “El Matador” in the first round.
Topuria briefly rebounded in the second round but apparently
exhausted himself hunting a finish. Gaethje unleashed brutal
punishment in the third round. However, Topuria showed immense
heart in getting off the stool for the fourth round, where he
absorbed even more damage. Topuria’s corner had seen enough to
throw in the towel at the end of the fourth round. Gaethje shocked
the world by winning the undisputed title in his third attempt in
one of the greatest upsets in UFC history.
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Smith believes the best way for Topuria to mentally recover from
his first career loss is to return to competition as soon as he
can. According to Smith, sitting on the loss for too long will take
a toll on Topuria. The former UFC light heavyweight also notes that
Topuria really went big with his trash talk in the lead-up to the
fight. The previously undefeated Georgian-Spaniard had repeatedly
predicted a first-round knockout. Topuria also threw a party
celebrating his expected victory before the fight. “Lionheart”
believes Topuria will be eating his words for a while now.
It Will Mess with You
“I’d like to see him at the end of the year,” Smith said on “The
Ariel Helwani Show.” “You don’t want to sit on that too long
because it’ll f—k with you. It’ll mess with how you feel about
yourself, especially when you’re the level of superstar that he is.
And the attention that he has. He’s gonna be eating on that for a
while, especially with the s—t that he says. I mean, he had a
celebratory dinner beforehand, and people were practically holding
a funeral for Gaethje before the fight. You’re going to have to eat
that s—t for a minute. The quicker you can get back, be healthy,
and try to get that monkey off your back, the better.”
Anthony
Smith explains why he believes Ilia
Topuria should return as soon as possible:„I’d like to see him back at the end of the year. You don’t want to
sit on that too long because it’ll fuck with you.It’ll mess with how you feel about yourself, especially when you’re
the… pic.twitter.com/eRWqYoO2di— Ariel Helwani (@arielhelwani)
June 15, 2026