Ilia Topuria responds to callout from fellow undefeated featherweight Movsar Evloev: “He needs to finish someone”

By Harry Kettle - February 19, 2024

UFC featherweight champion Ilia Topuria has responded to a recent callout from contender Movsar Evloev.

Ilia Topuria

Last weekend, Ilia Topuria made his way to the top of the featherweight division. He did so by knocking out Alexander Volkanovski, a man who had previously never been beaten at 145 pounds in the UFC. Now, as you can imagine, fans are interested to see what happens next. Whether it be Volkanovski in an immediate rematch or another top name, things are looking interesting for the Spaniard.

After the fight, the unbeaten Movsar Evloev made it clear that he’d be interested in taking Ilia on next – which is hardly surprising given that the division has now been blown wide open.

RELATED: Conor McGregor responds to challenge from newly crowned UFC featherweight champion Ilia Topuria

During his post-fight press conference appearance, Topuria acknowledged the callout, but explained why it doesn’t overly interest him.

Topuria responds to Evloev

“Movsar’s a good fight for me, I’d love to fight him,” Topuria said. “But, the guy has eight fights in the UFC. Eight decisions. Zero submissions, zero knockouts…man, come on. He needs to finish someone. Maybe they can find someone from his hometown, maybe he can fight with his Dad or something and finish him. But he needs to finish someone, the record he has right now, yeah, it seems nice, he’s undefeated. But the guy hasn’t finished anyone, so he needs to do something.”

Quotes via MMA News

Evloev would almost certainly give Topuria a run for his money. With that being said, plenty of people are going to be interested in taking a shot at him, and Volk is likely still at the front of the queue.

What do you believe would happen if Ilia Topuria defended his belt against Movsar Evloev? Let us know, BJPENN Nation!


Topics:

Ilia Topuria Movsar Evloev UFC