Mailbag: Ilia Topuria has options for his next challenger, but who makes most sense right now?

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4 days ago

What now for Ilia Topuria, new UFC lightweight champion? Should it be Paddy Pimblett or Arman Tsarukyan who gets to challenge the most electric man in mixed martial arts? And what should we make of Jake Paul earning a spot in the WBA cruiserweight rankings after an unremarkable win?
All that and more in this week's mailbag. To ask a question of your own, hit up @benfowlkesmma or @benfowlkes.bsky.social.
@GabeDert: So what do you think they are actually gonna do with ilia next?
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Unless the UFC is now run by fools who hate money, they'll put Ilia Topuria up against Paddy Pimblett next. The work has already been done. Pimblett got in the cage after the UFC 317 main event, the situation boiled over, and Topuria ended the night by explaining to the media that he would really, really enjoy hurting the gentleman from Liverpool.
I mean, we all saw what he did to Oliveira, a man he likes and respects, right? Just imagine what this sorcerer of violence would do when properly motivated to use his powers maliciously.
Of course, UFC CEO Dana White didn't like that in-cage spectacle. Maybe it's because he just hates fun when it isn't his idea (there's a lot of evidence for this theory). Or maybe it's because he had already told Arman Tsarukyan that he was next in line for the lightweight title shot.
But can we be real? No one cares very much about Tsarukyan. He's a good fighter and all that, but he's also the kind of guy you forget about as soon as he's out of sight. Pimblett has a name and a fan base and a personal history with Topuria. Tsarukyan has none of those things, plus he pulled out of the last title fight he had, which might cost him his spot in line. Topuria vs. Pimblett is the play if we want a big, fun fight up next. And, personally, I do.
@NeedXtoseePosts: How big a shock would it be if Paddy managed to beat Topuria
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Big. Maybe not quite on the level of Matt Serra beating Georges St-Pierre, but definitely bigger than Sean Strickland beating Israel Adesanya.
Much of the MMA world has been slow to come around to the idea that Pimblett might actually be good. Some of that is distaste for his personality, but it's also the fact that we've seen him look extremely vulnerable at times in the UFC, even if he ended up winning all those fights.
Against the precision fists of Topuria, you'd think that an extremely hittable face like Pimblett's would be in for a bad night. And yet, hasn't he improved before our eyes? Hasn't he surprised us lately? And couldn't we possibly talk ourselves into believing that personal animosity might finally force Topuria to make a mistake?
@justlikelasagna: You've got to give us some perspective on how unprecedented what ilia topuria just did. Mighty Mouse did great work. GSP too. How does their 3 toughest opponents stack up to Topuria's 3 man annihilation tour?
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The thing about Topuria's recent body of work is that he's done nothing but beat highly regarded champs or former champs. And not just beat, either. He's destroyed them.
Demetrious Johnson's UFC title reign was impressive mostly for its consistency and longevity. He went more than five years without losing a title fight, and in that span he never put the title up for grabs fewer than twice per year. That's incredible, especially with every soul in the division gunning for you specifically that entire time. But because flyweight was brand new to the UFC, he didn't get the benefit of any prior history at 125 pounds. There was no real way to put his competitors in context, since the belt was Johnson's ever since its inception.
St-Pierre had a similar situation. He beat down and finished the only two current or recent champs available to him in Matt Hughes and B.J. Penn. After that? All he could really do was knock back one top contender after another. He also did it almost entirely by decision. He dominated people like Josh Koscheck and Jon Fitch and Jake Shields on the scorecards, but his style didn't lend itself to many finishes (and he was always too smart to force it for the sake of entertainment value).
What makes Topuria's reign of terror seem so impressive is how easy he makes it look. He's putting great fighters to sleep, and the outcome never seems (at least to him) to be in question. Now you just wonder how long he can keep it up, and where else he might go from here.
@EyeofMihawk: Is Josh Van speedrunning CTE or is he avoiding accumulated years of hard sparring in the gym? How did old school boxers who fought every week handle the busier schedule long term?
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The answer to the last question is: Generally not very well. Boxers like Jake LaMotta might have fought almost every weekend (including one incredible stretch where he fought eight bouts inside of five months — and three of them were against 'Sugar' Ray Robinson), but he was also done as a fighter before he hit 32. You can go extremely hard if you want, but usually not for very long.
Joshua Van is 23 and has spent roughly half his career in the UFC, but we all know it's not the years — it's the miles. I think a lot of younger fighters are smarter about that stuff now. I also think it's in large part because they have older fighters to learn from who can tell them from experience, as Cub Swanson now tells his, that toughness without intelligence is a recipe for a short, painful career.
@jaypettry: Which is more shocking: Pantoja previously being ranked P4P at 9, or Jake Paul getting ranked after whatever that was this weekend?
Maybe it's the hard-earned cynicism talking, but I can't say either surprises me all that much. The pound-for-pound rankings are, at this point, just a list of who we think the best fighters are based on what we saw last. The 'pound-for-pound' element is basically entirely gone from the discussion, which is probably fine since no one ever totally agreed on what it meant in the first place. (Though for what it's worth, we here at Uncrowned have had Pantoja at No. 4 for months.)
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As for Jake Paul, I think he drives too much interest and generates too much money in boxing for the sanctioning bodies not to play along at some point. Also? It seems to me there's a whole lot of people mad about seeing Paul in the WBA cruiserweight rankings even though, if you'd asked them last week, they couldn't have told you who else was on them.
@shadore66: What's your favorite part of summer? Mine is sitting on the deck in the sun with a coffee
Evening walks. I'm talking about that two hours after dinner, sun getting low in the sky, heat finally easing up while you stroll through the neighborhood and overhear people talking in lawn chairs with cold beers in their hand type of stuff.
The thing about summer here in the northern latitude of Montana is that it doesn't really get dark until like 10 p.m. So when it's five or six o'clock in the evening, it is usually still way too hot to go for a nice little perambulation out in those streets. If you wait until around nine o'clock, though? It feels like you are gliding through the cool of an evening, a welcome respite at the close of a scorching day.
Other great Montana summer respites include, but are not limited to: Floating the river in an inner tube that's tied to a floating cooler, sunrise hikes with the dog through a meadow still damp with dew, the cool and welcoming dark of the Double Front Chicken basement bar. (That last one is Missoula-specific, but still.)