Ilia Topuria’s love for boxing comes from afar. The two-time UFC champion has indicated on several occasions that he intends to end his professional career in the ring to participate in a high-level fight with great media impact. … On some occasions he even challenged Terence Crawford and even Canelo Álvarez, two world champions who have achieved everything in the noble art.
At this point, many voices wonder how the Hispanic-Georgian could combine both facets, since staying at the top of mixed martial arts (MMA) involves extreme sacrifices, hardly compatible with doing the same among the sixteen, even more so when El Matador wants to perform in a high-level fight. He was recently asked about this.
“It’s no secret that I’ve always wanted to try my boxing skills, but I think something I’ve always applied in my life is that whoever wants to chase two rabbits in the end catches none… So I want to first complete my journey in mixed martial arts, MMA, and once I’m done, make my full transition to boxing. because I can’t prepare for an MMA fight, then leave, prepare for a boxing fight, come back… I don’t think that would be very professional either, right? “, he emphasized in an interview with Marca.
“Because boxing requires a completely different approach, a very, very, very different training that I have to adapt to. Obviously these are different times and finally, it’s not even an octagon, it’s a quadrilateral, and I would have to adapt to it, which takes time, like everything in life. So now, right now, in mixed martial arts, when it’s over, I don’t think I have much left either if I tell you the truth in this sport… I am going to make my transition to boxing, and I am going to surprise more than one,” he concluded in the aforementioned newspaper.
For now, Topuria has some complicated personal issues to sort out, and later there will be time to think about what’s next for him in MMA. Englishman Paddy Pimblett and American Justin Gaethje will compete for the interim lightweight belt, a division in which El Matador is champion, and this result will determine his future in the UFC.
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