Eddie
Alvarez advises against an immediate Ilia
Topuria vs. Justin
Gaethje rematch, claiming the former won’t enter the Octagon as
the same fighter who won two-division gold.
Topuria (17-1) was a massive favorite when he put his
Ultimate Fighting Championship lightweight title on the line
against Gaethje (28-5) at
UFC Freedom 250 this past June. The challenger handed Topuria
his first professional loss, forcing a corner stoppage before the
final round.
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Eddie Alvarez warns against an immediate Ilia Topuria-Justin
Gaethje UFC rematch
Amidst rumors linking Topuria to an immediate rematch with Gaethje,
former UFC lightweight champ Alvarez believes running it back could
cost both Topuria and the UFC heavily. Alvarez claims Topuria
doesn’t deserve a rematch to begin with, but understands why the
UFC wants to put him in a big fight.
However, Alvarez says an immediate rematch would be ill-advised on
Topuria’s part, considering Gaethje and his team have already
extensively broken down his style, coupled with the psychological
hurdle of overcoming what happened in their first meeting.
“If someone beats the sh*t out of you, you don’t get a rematch,”
Alvarez told MMA Junkie. “It needs to be close. You have to at
least fight another guy… I could see the UFC wanting to crown
Topuria. They want that whole market. He’s a big deal; he makes a
lot of money for the company. But it could be a disaster for the
UFC. Giving him that other shot, Justin and Trevor [Wittman] kind
of got his number. He’s not just gonna go in and forget about what
just happened. His brain’s still gonna suffer from PTSD where he’s
not gonna be able to go. He’s not gonna be the same Ilia Topuria
that he was before Justin beat the sh*t out of him.”