Ilia Topuria changes tune on retired Terence Crawford: ‘I learned many things from his style’

While some expect “Bud” to return from retirement any day now, Topuria believes Crawford is done.

“He seems to be a a serious guy,” Ilia said. “Like, he seems to be the kind of person that says something and he backs it up.”

That hasn’t stopped Topuria from wanting a boxing match … eventually, once he’s done dominating in the world of MMA.

“Of course, it’s on my list. Of course, it’s gonna happen,” he said. “It’s gonna happen. At least one fight, after I finish my journey in the mixed martial arts, I’m gonna make that move for sure.”

“I don’t know [who I’ll fight against]. When the moment arrives, I don’t know who’s gonna be on the top, who’s gonna be the world champion in the weight class where I wanna fight. So we’ll see, there are many factors that matters before taking those kind of decisions.”

Topuria was definitely high on his own supply when he called out Crawford. While he’s a massive star in Spain, he still hasn’t broken through into North American stardom. Once he fights in the main event of the UFC White House card, that could change. If he moves up to welterweight and beats Islam Makhachev, no one would be able to deny he’s the best mixed martial artist in the world.

Then it will be time to call out the Crawfords of the world and hope that the match-up intrigues some rich Saudi backers. But first, there’s work to be done in the UFC.