Jorge
Masvidal believes Ilia
Topuria is on a different level than Justin
Gaethje.
Interim lightweight champion Gaethje will challenge the champion
Topuria in a title unifier in the main event at
UFC White House on June 14. A former training partner of
Topuria, Masvidal has always lauded the undefeated
Georgian-Spaniard’s skillset and power. Masvidal believes “El
Matador” will hand Gaethje a beating that he won’t be able to
recover from. “Gamebred” predicts that Topuria will retire Gaethje
at the White House in June.
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Ilia Flatlines Him
“I think Ilia does Gaethje worse… I’ve trained with Ilia plenty,”
Masvidal said on the „Death Row MMA” podcast. “Since his first UFC fight,
I’ve been calling it, ‘This guy’s gonna be champ.’ He’s gonna beat
the f—-ing brakes off [Gaethje]. He retires Homer Simpson that day
in the f—-ing cage. He’ll never come back fighting that dude. Homer
Simpson is not walking out of that alive. I think [Ilia] just
flatlines him.”
Topuria (17-0) won the featherweight title by knocking out
Alexander Volkaovski in 2024. Topuria defended his title by handing
Max
Holloway the lone knockout loss of his career. Topuria then
moved up to lightweight and knocked out Charles
Oliveira to win the vacant title last year.
Meanwhile, Gaethje is 4-1 in his last five, with the loss coming in
a brutal beatdown against Holloway. Gaethje (27-5) has since
rebounded with decision wins over Rafael
Fiziev and Paddy
Pimblett. While Gaethje landed substantial damage on Pimblett
to win the interim lightweight title this past January, it wasn’t
considered the most technical performance. Gaethje has opened as a
+425 underdog against Topuria, a -600 favorite.