Jon Anik believes Ilia Topuria still has questions to answer at lightweight after suffering his first professional defeat to Justin Gaethje at UFC Freedom 250.
Topuria, now 17-1 in MMA and 9-1 in the UFC, saw his bout with Gaethje stopped by doctors at the end of Round 4 due to damage to his face. The setback came after a stunning run in which he scored three consecutive knockouts over Alexander Volkanovski, Max Holloway and Charles Oliveira to become a two-division UFC champion at featherweight and lightweight.
“I think this will probably be more interesting to see how Ilia Topuria comes out of the other side of this,” Anik said, noting that Topuria remains unproven at 155 pounds and now needs to establish himself in the division.
“Whatever his goals might have been internally in terms of legacy and when he was going to retire, that undeniably has shifted because now the focus is on regaining a title he was not able to successfully defend in a weight class in which he is going to be relinquishing size to a lot of these guys. Size does matter at some point in this equation, but he's a mental giant in my opinion. He has just tremendous aura and mystique. I get starstruck around Ilia Topuria. This guy walks into a room, and you know it, even if he's shorter than me.”
Anik added: “I think he will come back strong against any opponent... But at lightweight, he's unproven, and he'll be ready to prove himself at 155, hopefully sooner rather than later.”
