Ilia Topuria rules out Alexander Volkanovski rematch: 'I like him too much'

Topuria, who knocked Volkanovski out at UFC 298, said he respects the featherweight champion too much to hit him and called him the best featherweight there has ever been.

Ilia Topuria says he will not fight Alexander Volkanovski again, because he likes the UFC featherweight champion too much to hit him.

Speaking to Álvaro Colmenero of the Spanish newspaper ABC in Tbilisi, in comments translated by Bloody Elbow, Topuria was asked whether he would be seen cooking with Volkanovski on his show or fighting him again. He chose the cooking. "I have so much affection and respect for him that I couldn't hit him," he said. "I like him too much. There are already things I don't want to do. What for?"

"It would be a very competitive fight, even though I beat him once," Topuria added. "For me, he's the best featherweight that has ever existed, the most dominant. I was the champion, and I've done things that nobody else has done, but I left the division. He's done much more at that weight than I have. It's been many years."

Topuria knocked Volkanovski out in the second round at UFC 298 in February 2024 to win the featherweight title. Volkanovski, 38, has since won the belt back and stopped Movsar Evloev in round two of the UFC 333 main event in Abu Dhabi on 24 October. ABC put it to Topuria that Volkanovski had spoken of wanting to face him again at lightweight, while accepting it would probably never happen.

Topuria, who lost for the first time when Justin Gaethje stopped him at the White House in June, told ABC he is considering a return from April. ABC reported that it will probably be against Paddy Pimblett, though Topuria said he did not mind who he faced. In the same interview he said he would make Arman Tsarukyan panic, as Volkanovski had done to Evloev. No opponent or date has been announced.

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