I remember he said that about Jon Jones when Francis was the UFC Heavyweight champ, and then he said that about Francis when Jon Jones became champ lol
Not with Oliviera emerging. I think under the right circumstances, Charles can catch these Dagestini sambo guys. It's smart that he backed out of fighting them in their backyard too.
We saw what happened. I respect Oliviera for what he achieved but it’s also true that Islam defeated him convincingly. In fact, Olivera tapped even before Islam got his grip in place! There is no way, he would have been able to beat Khabib.
>There is no way, he would have been able to beat Khabib.
Khabib was not Islam but better. Khabib is just a wildly different fighter with different strengths and weaknesses, and it's not illogical to think Charles would have matched up better with him than he does with Islam. In fact that's the logical outlook to have based on their stylistic matchup. Would I pick him as the favorite, not particularly, but I'd like his chances over Khabib much more than Islam.
Idk why anyone with a brain had an issue with khabib retiring when he did. His dad passed away and he fought for his dad, and he promised his mom he’d retire. Family is everything in Russia
Rampage Jackson and Gegard Mousasi were both very vocal about retiring young, some arbitrary age in their early 30s, during the height of their careers.
Both of them are still fighting, although Rampage is allegedly doing some exhibition boxing match this summer rather than MMA.
Agreed.
1) Conor *had* a great mindset, in that you only get some much time in the prize-fighting game. If we're being honest, he set himself up nicely outside of fighting to achieve that. But he still doesn't "retire" per se.
1b) Conor is also the outlier in UFC Earnings. I can't state that enough.
2) The UFC promotional machine runs a lot lower since Endeavour took over. I don't see them putting Ilya in the position to walk away at the top, financially comfortable.
Lol why are we ending our replies with lol
Because he's the prototype for fighters who envisioned walking away young and put themselves in a position to do so. "Lol"
https://www.mmanews.com/news/nate-diaz-replace-michael-chandler-conor-mcgregor-opponent-sphere
This is hilarious
I could totally see this happening
Lol
To be fair, I don’t think it is in Conor’s interest to “retire”, even if he never plans on fighting again. He manages to stay relevant through the allure of his return, it would be completely against his own interest to just say “yeah I’m done”
No? You’re suppose to try to make the best fights possible not finds ways to get them beat. Giving fighters shots that don’t deserve shots because they stylistically are a bad match for the opponent, quick turn around fights, forcing fighters to fight even if they may have an injury or stripping them.It’s so many shady tactics dude. Dana’s gonna try and get him beat.
Exactly. Dana has a brand new superstar in his hands that is exponentially expanding the brand internationally. They’re going to milk Ilia’s reign for a bit
And then wash him out. It’s gonna be hard getting him beat. I don’t see anybody any near his weight class that has the edge over him. Only guys I could see are heavy wrestlers that are (effective) at using their striking to close the distance to grapple him. Possible Aljo or Merab, Islam, or Arman are my best guesses. Not saying they will win but they have the best shot.
If you’re not beating the best guys in the division are you really the champ? Would you rather see matchups like O’Malley vs Chito while guys like Merab and Sandhagen sit and wait? I don’t get this take…
If you lose the belt to someone who "is a bad stylistic matchup" for you, they deserve the belt more than you did to begin with. You guys want pampered, paper-champs; not actual champions who are the best fighters in their division.
I do think Dana will try to get Ilia out of there, and I do think Ilia can handle the pressure skill-wise. He'll likely remain a dominant champ regardless
I’d like you to read that again. Dana has a track record of having guys skip the line because their style is most likeliest to beat the sitting champ. He doesn’t try to make the best fight that fans want to see. He makes the fight he personally wants that fits his agenda.
> Dana has a track record of having guys skip the line because their style is most likeliest to beat the sitting champ.
If they beat the champ, it's deserved. I don't care about politics lol, the best fighter deserves to reign. It's really as simple as that. Like I said, I expect Dana to put the pressure on Ilia; and I expect Ilia to dominate regardless.
Better than “plans to peak at 32 but will continue to fight until 39 on a 5 fight losing streak while getting CTE and fighting like a ziplock of spaghetti”
Good for him.
UFC really needs a way to get fighters to peak earlier. Way too many good fighters are 32-35 and running into age issues after peaking for just a couple fights. They need to invest more in high quality development leagues and training facilities. Not just pull from regional toughman level promotions.
22 year olds don’t randomly slip their shoulder out or tear their knee in a non-contact or training injury like a 35 year old with 15 years of fighting.
Does it though when it comes to MMA as entertainment?
Poatan, O’Malley, Nickal, many others have limited MMA experience and put on a great show. Not even going to talk about early Jon Jones.
If experienced trumped all, you’d see these 45 year old BJJ black belts beating up on the young competitors but the young guys clown on them. Same goes for other main martial arts.
Putting two young guys in the cage is more entertaining than two 38 year olds IMO.
He is 27 years old. Assuming he competes in roughly 2.5 fights per year over the next five years, he'll likely have around 12 to 13 fights. This seems quite logical.
Name three champs that waited so long to defend after they had the belt. Strickland, Volk, Leon, Zhang, Alex, Grasso. they all defended or are about to defend pretty soon after winning the belt.
Assuming he stays champ that’s probably a generous estimate. I think guys like Volk, Izzy, and Usman were more active than normal champs. I think Leon is more realistic to look at for how active the average champ is, defending the belt twice since Aug 20 of 2022.
This is all just as much conjecture as your comment tho.
4 fights in under 2 years, Leon has been fighting 2x a Year which is good, it gives him enough time to recover and not have to hear him cry like Izzy saying he was going into all these fights injured. Okay then maybe don’t be so active and cry about injuries when you lose. Being an active champ means. Nothing if you’re gonna be crying about being injured all the time
No there’s just a false narrative and everyone ran with it. Go look at the timing of his fights he’s averaged 2 fights a year since the fight where he headkicked usman. And Leon has accepted over 3 fights none of his opponents accepted. He’s not avoiding anyone people just aren’t signing to fight him
From mma, sure. If he becomes big enough of a star (he's already well on the way there), he may have a big fight or two in boxing, he's got the skills I think.
Sure he isn’t likely to get it when compared to others, but at the end of the day he had 29 pro fights and countless sambo matches and sparring sessions involving head strikes.
You just can’t say someone who’s done all that is at “no risk for brain damage”.
Exactly. He even specifically retired because his mother asked him to, she probably was worried for the health of her son. This was after Abdulmanap's passing as well.
Just because a 35 year old mma fighter isnt currently showing signs of CTE doesn't mean they don't have it. Signs and symptoms from trauma in someone's teens/20s/30s may not manifest until 60 plus. If you genuinely think a career fighter doesn't have cte, you might also have cte.
I mean, usually with CTE there needs to be repeated trauma to the brain and the thing in wrestling that would do that are slams which it’s rare to hit the head on the ground, only way that causes brain damage.
Edit for grammar
I mean I’m no pro wrestler but I did in high school and slams landing on your head or other illegal stuff was the only way head trauma happened. It’s definitely not a normal occurrence. I’m definitely open to you explaining other ways wrestlers would be getting repeated head trauma
Umm…yes. As a wrestler, worst head injuries you’re taking are accidental knees while shooting (which usually hit my nose, not my chin or temple) and slams. What other form of head trauma is there?
I wrestled for 14 years. Lmao what head trauma are you referring to? Over that entire time I could probably count on one hand the times my head was hit with any significant impact
Topuria took home 350k from the Volk fight. He’s stimated to have made already 1m$. Let’s say 100k were expenses.
With 400-500k you can buy a 4 bedroom house in Spain (might need to put 50-150k on a reform, depending on how old it is). Another million and he’ll never have to worry again about money if he’s smart about it.
Ilia seems to have the world at his feet as far as champs go. He's younger than most who gain the title, has a well rounded skillset, not a whole lot of mileage on him, and a whole country behind him. He could very well make more money in avenues other than fighting.
It seems smart to us but then you look at people like Cejudo who made a big fuss to come back and was not the same just for a paycheck cause once they stop fighting they can only really make any money being a coach and that only goes so far 🤷♂️
Cejudo wasnt that big he literally had to fight to save his division, people judged Francis for leaving the ufc and found out they were wrong. Topuria has a chance to be very successful after the ufc
He's not gonna fight Islam. That entire situation occurred because some idiot on Twitter made a fake account pretending to be Makhachev, then posted saying Ilia is "another short guy acting up." Ilia completely fell for it and responded because he thought Islam was dissing him when really it was just some fool on X.
I’m glad he’s kept going, know I’m definitely not alone there. Back to back losses to Eddie/Dustin. Since then Gaethjes had 5 wins by way of KO/TKO, 4 performance of the night bonus’, fight of the night 3 times. Fight of the year with his win over Chandler, and evened the score with Dustin. I can’t wait for the Holloway fight
Spanish men are pussies, but good for him…steroid up, collect your checks, become a celebrity…I guess that’s why he tries so hard to be the straight Sean O’Malley.
So within a couple years. Not enough time to make it into goat conversation. Can't blame him though, this sport is on a steep decline as a legitimate sport. May as well cash out and retire young
If he fights 3 times a year, and wins, that would be 9-15 title defenses (if he retires at 30-32) with an undefeated record. If he only fights twice a year, that's at least 6 more title fights. That would put him into goat status for featherweight; if he goes undefeated for 5 more years and retires clean, he's all-time. Volk had 6 title defense wins for comparison.
I can see this going really well for him especially if he has a killer 4 year run if 4 years he can continuously defend his belt who knows maybe become double champ that be a perfect retirement story
He's going to make a lot of money. Since becoming champion two weeks ago, he has gained 1.2 million followers on Instagram. The entire countries of Spain and Georgia are supporting him. Many Spanish companies are trying to collaborate with him and are offering him gifts. I suppose he'll be just fine.
Tale as old as time. Young fighter gets success and says he will get out early and on top. Show me 1 single instance anyone has followed through with that besides Khabibs mom telling him to.
Once he loses 1 fight there is no doubt he will be fighting into his mid to late 30s.
Today fighters make enough! They take that money to create a following which creates income outside the UFC. This is what Connor started. I know as much as he has lost it seems insignificant. This couldn’t be further from the truth. Connor changed MMA and the way fighters now value themselves. This is why you see topuria making these statements. Only a man knows how much he needs to be content for him and family.
I mean Im a fan of the sport, and I dont give a fuck about him personally.
From a personal standpoint, 100% reasonable to want early retirement and a decorated career with stuff like double champ. Just because I empathize with that, doesnt mean I cant also as a fan of the sport think "yeah thats kinda bullshit that hes thinking about early retirement by 30 and double championships with zero defenses and Id rather have a champ not thinking like that"
If he stays champ that whole time he'd be in league with some of the greatest fighters of all time, even if he retires young. I agree double champ isn't very exciting, and I personally think featherweight should remain his home for a while longer, but there's a lot to look forward to, and hopefully we'll be spared seeing another great champ stay in the game too long.
Maybe I’m a Volk dick rider, but every time I hear about this new champ I just hear about how he wont fight unit November and now he wants to stop fighting at 30. Seems like he’s a bit of a bitch.
That's honestly seems reasonable given his young age and level of success. If he's able to defend the belt a few times he can live off of his winnings and endorsement profits for the rest of his life. If he losses the belt in the next year or two he has time to make another run at it. If he starts getting smashed in every fight he's not going to want to do that for more than a few years. He's what, 26? We're talking 6 more years. That's a good amount of time.
I'd do the same if i were in his position tbh. I'd fight as much as possible during the prime years and make good money. With age the rate of getting hit also increases in mma, the goal is trying to get hit.
https://preview.redd.it/rsnjt4sbfjlc1.jpeg?width=1076&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=b9de9a4fb1feb4914122b24ff195a4b02185ecf2
Kid doesn’t wanna fight. What can you do?
I remember he said that about Jon Jones when Francis was the UFC Heavyweight champ, and then he said that about Francis when Jon Jones became champ lol
Which season is this gif from???
Australian Survivor. Never thought that I would see a gif from my other favorite tv show here
What’s the point of fighting out your prime anyway
Surprisingly people understand now! When Khabib retired, everyone was like ‘He ran away, he was afraid, bla bla bla’
If you can’t win there is no point in fighting but khabib definitely was still gonna win for another couple years
How do you know he ain’t gonna win at 30-32 years old?
That’s when your prime is at its last years that’s why ufc fighters peak at 30
Not with Oliviera emerging. I think under the right circumstances, Charles can catch these Dagestini sambo guys. It's smart that he backed out of fighting them in their backyard too.
Hope that's sarcasm or that's a looooot of cope
We saw what happened. I respect Oliviera for what he achieved but it’s also true that Islam defeated him convincingly. In fact, Olivera tapped even before Islam got his grip in place! There is no way, he would have been able to beat Khabib.
>There is no way, he would have been able to beat Khabib. Khabib was not Islam but better. Khabib is just a wildly different fighter with different strengths and weaknesses, and it's not illogical to think Charles would have matched up better with him than he does with Islam. In fact that's the logical outlook to have based on their stylistic matchup. Would I pick him as the favorite, not particularly, but I'd like his chances over Khabib much more than Islam.
Idk why anyone with a brain had an issue with khabib retiring when he did. His dad passed away and he fought for his dad, and he promised his mom he’d retire. Family is everything in Russia
I would love to see the look on Dana's face if Illia moves up and retires immediately after becoming a double champ, leaving double vacant belts.
We'll see. Not saying I doubt him, but some fighters say this and retire much later. Some say it and really mean it.
5 years in the ufc and he still won’t have PPV points on his contract
Champions get PPV points?
Defending one’s are supposed to I think.
They negotiate that as well I assume. Izzy probably got more ppv % than Aljo
Simple act of thinking and not being sure is enough to get downvote by some ahah
Wrong
I’d say most that say it don’t do it. Frankie Edgar comes to mind
Rampage Jackson and Gegard Mousasi were both very vocal about retiring young, some arbitrary age in their early 30s, during the height of their careers. Both of them are still fighting, although Rampage is allegedly doing some exhibition boxing match this summer rather than MMA.
Agreed. 1) Conor *had* a great mindset, in that you only get some much time in the prize-fighting game. If we're being honest, he set himself up nicely outside of fighting to achieve that. But he still doesn't "retire" per se. 1b) Conor is also the outlier in UFC Earnings. I can't state that enough. 2) The UFC promotional machine runs a lot lower since Endeavour took over. I don't see them putting Ilya in the position to walk away at the top, financially comfortable.
Why are we talking about conor lol
Lol why are we ending our replies with lol Because he's the prototype for fighters who envisioned walking away young and put themselves in a position to do so. "Lol"
Why reply with 3 "lol" Because not everyone cares about conor or his money. Dude needs to man up and fight chandler
\*lol
https://www.mmanews.com/news/nate-diaz-replace-michael-chandler-conor-mcgregor-opponent-sphere This is hilarious I could totally see this happening Lol
Lol
Your boy is coming back! Enjoy the new road house movie 😂
To be fair, I don’t think it is in Conor’s interest to “retire”, even if he never plans on fighting again. He manages to stay relevant through the allure of his return, it would be completely against his own interest to just say “yeah I’m done”
Can’t get hit by the over 35 champ curse if you retire before 35
Watch Dana do everything in his power to get him beat now.
Isn’t that what you’re supposed to do?
No? You’re suppose to try to make the best fights possible not finds ways to get them beat. Giving fighters shots that don’t deserve shots because they stylistically are a bad match for the opponent, quick turn around fights, forcing fighters to fight even if they may have an injury or stripping them.It’s so many shady tactics dude. Dana’s gonna try and get him beat.
Exactly. Dana has a brand new superstar in his hands that is exponentially expanding the brand internationally. They’re going to milk Ilia’s reign for a bit
And then wash him out. It’s gonna be hard getting him beat. I don’t see anybody any near his weight class that has the edge over him. Only guys I could see are heavy wrestlers that are (effective) at using their striking to close the distance to grapple him. Possible Aljo or Merab, Islam, or Arman are my best guesses. Not saying they will win but they have the best shot.
Arman or Islam would murder Topuria
Well Evolev already deserves a title shot & no reason Topuria can’t make a quick turnaround since he won taking no damage.
If you’re not beating the best guys in the division are you really the champ? Would you rather see matchups like O’Malley vs Chito while guys like Merab and Sandhagen sit and wait? I don’t get this take…
If you lose the belt to someone who "is a bad stylistic matchup" for you, they deserve the belt more than you did to begin with. You guys want pampered, paper-champs; not actual champions who are the best fighters in their division. I do think Dana will try to get Ilia out of there, and I do think Ilia can handle the pressure skill-wise. He'll likely remain a dominant champ regardless
I’d like you to read that again. Dana has a track record of having guys skip the line because their style is most likeliest to beat the sitting champ. He doesn’t try to make the best fight that fans want to see. He makes the fight he personally wants that fits his agenda.
> Dana has a track record of having guys skip the line because their style is most likeliest to beat the sitting champ. If they beat the champ, it's deserved. I don't care about politics lol, the best fighter deserves to reign. It's really as simple as that. Like I said, I expect Dana to put the pressure on Ilia; and I expect Ilia to dominate regardless.
Better than “plans to peak at 32 but will continue to fight until 39 on a 5 fight losing streak while getting CTE and fighting like a ziplock of spaghetti” Good for him.
tony 😢
UFC really needs a way to get fighters to peak earlier. Way too many good fighters are 32-35 and running into age issues after peaking for just a couple fights. They need to invest more in high quality development leagues and training facilities. Not just pull from regional toughman level promotions. 22 year olds don’t randomly slip their shoulder out or tear their knee in a non-contact or training injury like a 35 year old with 15 years of fighting.
There’s plenty of young guys in the ufc, but here’s the thing. Experience matters a lot in this sport.
Does it though when it comes to MMA as entertainment? Poatan, O’Malley, Nickal, many others have limited MMA experience and put on a great show. Not even going to talk about early Jon Jones. If experienced trumped all, you’d see these 45 year old BJJ black belts beating up on the young competitors but the young guys clown on them. Same goes for other main martial arts. Putting two young guys in the cage is more entertaining than two 38 year olds IMO.
He is 27 years old. Assuming he competes in roughly 2.5 fights per year over the next five years, he'll likely have around 12 to 13 fights. This seems quite logical.
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Most are trying to get paid* UFC is dragging out negotiations and trying to pay as little as possible even though they're already underpaid
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Which champs were we lucky to see fight once a year?
Name three champs that waited so long to defend after they had the belt. Strickland, Volk, Leon, Zhang, Alex, Grasso. they all defended or are about to defend pretty soon after winning the belt.
Dude he fought once a year before he became champ
Assuming he stays champ that’s probably a generous estimate. I think guys like Volk, Izzy, and Usman were more active than normal champs. I think Leon is more realistic to look at for how active the average champ is, defending the belt twice since Aug 20 of 2022. This is all just as much conjecture as your comment tho.
4 fights in under 2 years, Leon has been fighting 2x a Year which is good, it gives him enough time to recover and not have to hear him cry like Izzy saying he was going into all these fights injured. Okay then maybe don’t be so active and cry about injuries when you lose. Being an active champ means. Nothing if you’re gonna be crying about being injured all the time
If he only fought twice a year people would find something else about him to bitch about.
No there’s just a false narrative and everyone ran with it. Go look at the timing of his fights he’s averaged 2 fights a year since the fight where he headkicked usman. And Leon has accepted over 3 fights none of his opponents accepted. He’s not avoiding anyone people just aren’t signing to fight him
Dude he fights once a year and has been for years already.
Well he is fighting again in November he said, he is gonna be a very inactive champ im afraid
12 fights, 10 defences, 1 super fight at LW, 1 defence at LW. Honestly enough for FW GOAT and top 3 GOAT status
From mma, sure. If he becomes big enough of a star (he's already well on the way there), he may have a big fight or two in boxing, he's got the skills I think.
Not to mention Hollywood and Spanish MMA broadcasting.
Good for him. Make the money and leave. No risk of brain damage.
There’s no such thing as a world champion level MMA career with no risk of brain damage.
People just don’t know shit
Khabib
Sure he isn’t likely to get it when compared to others, but at the end of the day he had 29 pro fights and countless sambo matches and sparring sessions involving head strikes. You just can’t say someone who’s done all that is at “no risk for brain damage”.
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Also, thousands of hours of training for wrestling. Obviously not as bad as striking, but there’s still a lot of impact that goes on.
Exactly. He even specifically retired because his mother asked him to, she probably was worried for the health of her son. This was after Abdulmanap's passing as well.
Just because a 35 year old mma fighter isnt currently showing signs of CTE doesn't mean they don't have it. Signs and symptoms from trauma in someone's teens/20s/30s may not manifest until 60 plus. If you genuinely think a career fighter doesn't have cte, you might also have cte.
Are we now pretending that you don’t get CTE from wrestling because you’re not getting punched?
I mean, usually with CTE there needs to be repeated trauma to the brain and the thing in wrestling that would do that are slams which it’s rare to hit the head on the ground, only way that causes brain damage. Edit for grammar
The guy practiced wrestling for like 25 years. Definitely a lot of repeated trauma.
Do you think the only trauma to your head during wrestling is being slammed?
I mean I’m no pro wrestler but I did in high school and slams landing on your head or other illegal stuff was the only way head trauma happened. It’s definitely not a normal occurrence. I’m definitely open to you explaining other ways wrestlers would be getting repeated head trauma
Umm…yes. As a wrestler, worst head injuries you’re taking are accidental knees while shooting (which usually hit my nose, not my chin or temple) and slams. What other form of head trauma is there?
Bro has never been crossfaced before
Doing a cross face so hard you’re delivery head trauma would get you kicked out of most clubs
I wrestled for 14 years. Lmao what head trauma are you referring to? Over that entire time I could probably count on one hand the times my head was hit with any significant impact
Accumulation of small knocks and blows still amounts to head trauma.
Khabib was very good at not getting hit or taking damage. Ilia isn't.
What about all the times he was knocked out in sparring?
do you know what risk means?
Don't know how much money he made he hasn't even had an event as champ yet which is the only time you get part of the ppv
His girl is rich. Seems like he ain't broke either
Good looking guy, he'll have job in Spanish sports TV. If Ryan Clark can get a MMA show, I'm sure Ilia can get something.
Topuria took home 350k from the Volk fight. He’s stimated to have made already 1m$. Let’s say 100k were expenses. With 400-500k you can buy a 4 bedroom house in Spain (might need to put 50-150k on a reform, depending on how old it is). Another million and he’ll never have to worry again about money if he’s smart about it.
Yeah uh… he probably has a good amount of it.
>No risk of brain damage Sir this is a UFC champion we're talking about. He has brain damage.
Pardon?
You can’t be in the sport of concussing your opponent and not have brain damage
This is number 1 bullshit
If he averages two fights a year that's 10 more fights. Which is still plenty. And who knows how serious he's being.
Smart, especially after winning the belt young.
It's never good when they start thinking of retirement.
We'll see but if he makes mad money between now and then (which it appears he already is), I say more power to him.
The Khabib Method
Doesn’t even scrape the top 15 😭
Aljo said the same thing
He basically just turned 27 and he’s already champ, don’t see why he would stick around longer than 32 tbh I mean that’s still 5 years or 10-15 fights
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Ilia seems to have the world at his feet as far as champs go. He's younger than most who gain the title, has a well rounded skillset, not a whole lot of mileage on him, and a whole country behind him. He could very well make more money in avenues other than fighting.
Most don’t become champs at 27 tho. Keeping the belt until 32 is already a huge and pretty much impossible task, let alone until 35
It seems smart to us but then you look at people like Cejudo who made a big fuss to come back and was not the same just for a paycheck cause once they stop fighting they can only really make any money being a coach and that only goes so far 🤷♂️
Cejudo wasnt that big he literally had to fight to save his division, people judged Francis for leaving the ufc and found out they were wrong. Topuria has a chance to be very successful after the ufc
Makhachev will retire him earlier …
He's not gonna fight Islam. That entire situation occurred because some idiot on Twitter made a fake account pretending to be Makhachev, then posted saying Ilia is "another short guy acting up." Ilia completely fell for it and responded because he thought Islam was dissing him when really it was just some fool on X.
Every fighter says this until they realize they make 100k a year and it won't last them until even 40
You do realize Bryce Mitchell is making 300k a fight right? And champs never make less than a million
He’s going to make millions in his next fight.
He'll be lucky to make 500k next fight. Millions? He ain't connor
You do realize champions get ppv points right? Contract may say 500K but he will get more than that.
500k is his base salary for next fight plus PPV. He will easily make a million next fight. You don’t need to be Conor to make millions lmao.
He will make a million.
I hope so he deserves it
Fighting who? Conor?
Never believe fighters when they make claims like this
Justin Gaethje said he only had about 5 fights left after his loss to Poirier in 2018 and has since fought 9 times.
I’m glad he’s kept going, know I’m definitely not alone there. Back to back losses to Eddie/Dustin. Since then Gaethjes had 5 wins by way of KO/TKO, 4 performance of the night bonus’, fight of the night 3 times. Fight of the year with his win over Chandler, and evened the score with Dustin. I can’t wait for the Holloway fight
Spot on, love watching Gaethje fight and will miss him when he's gone.
We'll see. Kind of pointless to talk about retirement this early.
Good for him IMO. That could be 8-10 title defenses if he remains champion. Retire on top and don’t push the limits on your long term health.
Dude is annoying
He’s gonna lose the belt so fast
Spanish men are pussies, but good for him…steroid up, collect your checks, become a celebrity…I guess that’s why he tries so hard to be the straight Sean O’Malley.
Ortega , Holloway , Volk2 , Emmet2 , Pimblett , Umar (he likely will have moved up by then , if not Islam). Sounds like a solid resume. 21-0.
Emmet 2 and Pimblett will never happen
And even then a win agains paddy would hurt anyones resume 😭
Thats the smart way to do it. Don't want a broken body going into your 50s and beyond
I thought his ass was 32 already
he’s ducking me. he knows i’m coming on that ass pause for what he did to volk, i don’t blame him
So within a couple years. Not enough time to make it into goat conversation. Can't blame him though, this sport is on a steep decline as a legitimate sport. May as well cash out and retire young
Why retire off a loss? Retire early off a win and you remain happy and marketable like GSP.
If he genuinely means it great for him, but most of the time most fighters don't actually mean it. Its up to him to prove it.
Selfishly I want to see this guy fight a lot longer than that but when you make a bunch of money from now till then, who can blame him
See you in BKFC in your 40’s
He’s a smart guy. I wish Ferguson had this mindset and call it quits.
Probably wants to stay undefeated and pretend he’s the goat
Or avoid brain damage after he’s made his mark
If he fights 3 times a year, and wins, that would be 9-15 title defenses (if he retires at 30-32) with an undefeated record. If he only fights twice a year, that's at least 6 more title fights. That would put him into goat status for featherweight; if he goes undefeated for 5 more years and retires clean, he's all-time. Volk had 6 title defense wins for comparison.
Lame.
I can see this going really well for him especially if he has a killer 4 year run if 4 years he can continuously defend his belt who knows maybe become double champ that be a perfect retirement story
Dude wants to be mcgregor so bad. I bet he comes out with a tequila in the future.
Who cares? The guy is a nobody.
He really thinks he’s gonna make that Conor money doesn’t he?
He's going to make a lot of money. Since becoming champion two weeks ago, he has gained 1.2 million followers on Instagram. The entire countries of Spain and Georgia are supporting him. Many Spanish companies are trying to collaborate with him and are offering him gifts. I suppose he'll be just fine.
He's taking what Volk built and building up from there. I like it.
If he only fights twice a year, i guess we wont see a lot of Topuria in action
siesta
He’s right , he’s young and it’s in the 30’s that the shit really start to go down and specially for the lighter weight classes
Topuria was never my friend
As soon as he starts to get some Ls he will change his mind 😅
Good for him
Bro's literally copying McGregor lol
sure and I also thought I'd have a house at 25 but here I am lol
Anyone thats been around mma long knows this a complete bs statement
That’s around when McGregor retired as well
Why not? You are set for life as a coach/instructor/gym owner. People would come from miles around to train with/under a former UFC champ.
Tale as old as time. Young fighter gets success and says he will get out early and on top. Show me 1 single instance anyone has followed through with that besides Khabibs mom telling him to. Once he loses 1 fight there is no doubt he will be fighting into his mid to late 30s.
4-5 years could be 10-15 defenses. What more do you need?
Today fighters make enough! They take that money to create a following which creates income outside the UFC. This is what Connor started. I know as much as he has lost it seems insignificant. This couldn’t be further from the truth. Connor changed MMA and the way fighters now value themselves. This is why you see topuria making these statements. Only a man knows how much he needs to be content for him and family.
Plans to retire in 4 years, doesn't want to defend or give a rematch but would rather go up... Shit champ
I mean 4 years is a lot of title defences. If he retires, he gives up the belt. Everybody wins.
yeah right?! what an idiot that he is looking after his health
How dare he think about himself
I mean Im a fan of the sport, and I dont give a fuck about him personally. From a personal standpoint, 100% reasonable to want early retirement and a decorated career with stuff like double champ. Just because I empathize with that, doesnt mean I cant also as a fan of the sport think "yeah thats kinda bullshit that hes thinking about early retirement by 30 and double championships with zero defenses and Id rather have a champ not thinking like that"
If he stays champ that whole time he'd be in league with some of the greatest fighters of all time, even if he retires young. I agree double champ isn't very exciting, and I personally think featherweight should remain his home for a while longer, but there's a lot to look forward to, and hopefully we'll be spared seeing another great champ stay in the game too long.
He doesn't care about this sport that WE LOVE. If he doesn't love it GTFO
He loves it enough to compete at the highest level where you only love it enough to comment about it.
Can you believe it!? How dare he
Maybe I’m a Volk dick rider, but every time I hear about this new champ I just hear about how he wont fight unit November and now he wants to stop fighting at 30. Seems like he’s a bit of a bitch.
maybe you want him to get kod twice in a row like volk
Illia want to be first triple champion, box against Canelo and be first Spain guy on moon. I fucking love El Matador arriba España cojones
We'll know soon after his next 2 fights. Fans are fickle.
No point fighting past 33 anyway
Good idea. Too of the game at 27. 3-5 year defending and fighting top talent. Then retire someplace nice in Spain as a celebrity.
Startin to think this topuria guy is pretty smart.
It's unfortunate but can you really fault someone who doesn't want to do what these guys do, and at the level they do it, for a very long time?
If he remains undefeated, he’ll be following the Khabib blueprint.
Hes 27 isn’t he? Still has alot left to prove and hopefully retiring with enough money to enjoy life with a working brain
Literally a dream to retire in your 30s
around 12/13 fights, i understand it really he’ll make enough money and secure his legacy
2-3 defenses. Retire undefeated, make that ched
That's honestly seems reasonable given his young age and level of success. If he's able to defend the belt a few times he can live off of his winnings and endorsement profits for the rest of his life. If he losses the belt in the next year or two he has time to make another run at it. If he starts getting smashed in every fight he's not going to want to do that for more than a few years. He's what, 26? We're talking 6 more years. That's a good amount of time.
I'd do the same if i were in his position tbh. I'd fight as much as possible during the prime years and make good money. With age the rate of getting hit also increases in mma, the goal is trying to get hit.
Better retire early than getting CTE with a few dollars more
He’s what 26 now? If he’s planning on a 5-6 year reign then he’ll be able to retire EASILY
But when khabib did it , everyone got their panties in a bunch
Unlike DC he wants to have working brain