Ilia Topuria silenced with crowd one-shot knockout win over Jai Herbert following famous pre-fight clash with Paddy Pimblett at UFC London
Ilia Topuria made quite the impression when he travelled to Britain for the first time in his MMA career last year.
The 13-0 contender is set to take on Josh Emmett at UFC on ABC 5 in Jacksonville, Florida’s VyStar Veterans Memorial Arena on Saturday night.
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A win over Emmett would be his biggest to date and move Topuria one step closer to a shot at the featherweight title that’ll be on the line when Alexander Volkanovski faces Yair Rodriguez at UFC 290 on July 8.
For now, most fans remember him for what happened when the UFC returned to London for the first time in three years last March.
The 26-year-old was booked to face former Cage Warriors champion Jai Herbert, but he spent much of fight week beefing with another UK MMA star.
Paddy Pimblett, who previously made disparaging comments about Topuria’s home country of Georgia, bumped into him at the fighter hotel and all hell broke loose.
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Footage uploaded to social media, showed the UFC duo exchanging words before Pimblett threw a bottle of hand sanitiser and punches are exchanged during a wild moment that quickly went viral.
Both men continued to fire shots at each other online and they also verbally clashed at a press conference, but their rivalry has died down lately as Topuria edges closer to a 145lb title shot and Pimblett prepares to take on top 15 competition at lightweight when he returns from injury.
‘The Baddy’ predicted Herbert was about to derail his new rival's hype train and it appeared that he was right when the Englishman got off to a great start on fight night.
Herbert dropped Topuria with a head kick inside one minute and knocked his gumshield out with a knee in what proved to be the toughest round of his UFC career.
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However, he rallied to score a brutal knockout that silenced the O2 Arena in the very next round.
Despite being hurt earlier in the fight, ‘El Matador’ continued to approach his opponent in a bullish manner and it paid off when he threw a three-punch combination that put Herbert to sleep in front of his own fans.
Topuria missed his first two punches but landed a massive right hand on his opponent’s chin to close the show and prove he can overcome adversity in enemy territory.
Naturally, he won a Performance of the Night bonus and used his post-fight mic time to call out Pimblett, but ultimately, he moved on to bigger things.
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In his very next fight, Topuria proved he is a force to be reckoned with by dominating the previously unbeaten Bryce Mitchell and stopping him inside two rounds.
Now, he faces the toughest test of his career and again it’s on foreign soil.
March 19, 2022
UFC Fight Night: Volkov vs. Aspinall
Topuria moved up to 155 after botching a weight cut in January. Faces Jai Herbert.
Troubled by the range and dropped in Round 1.
Topuria rallies for a vicious KO in Round 2.
— Ocelot MMA (@Ocelot_MMA) June 19, 2023
