UFC veteran Matt Brown believes that Ilia Topuria may have suffered life-changing damage against Justin Gaethje at UFC Freedom 250.
Topuria lost via fourth-round TKO when his corner, including his big brother Aleksandre, threw in the towel and called off the fight after Topuria suffered tons of damage to his face and eye area.
The former UFC lightweight champion said that he could not see, and thus, the corner decided to live to fight another day and stop the fight.
But the damage may have already been done.
Matt Brown Believes Ilia Topuria May Have Life-Changing Damage
Speaking on “The Fighter vs. the Writer” on MMAFighting.com, Brown said that he believes the amount of attrition that Topuria endured against Gaethje could change his entire career trajectory.
“I could tell you right now that is a potential life-changing fight right there. He may not come back the same. I’m not talking just about the brain damage but the mental damage and the confidence, which has always been a huge thing for Ilia. He’s so confident and feels so good about everything. I think everybody handles everything differently but that is the exact type of fight that could completely change a person for the rest of their life. Only Justin Gaethje could do that. He’s a (expletive) dog. You’ve got to love it,” Brown said.
Matt Brown Says Ilia Topuria Met His Breaking Point
For many fans, they were shocked when Topuria did not come out for the fourth round. But according to Brown, who has been in there with some of the most violent men on the planet inside the Octagon, everyone has their breaking point, and Topuria met his against Gaethje at UFC Freedom 250.
“His own mental aura of invincibility (could have been shattered). He now knows that there is a limit to his own abilities. He knows that he can be stopped or that he can be put to the point where he has to quit on the stool. He may not even think about it consciously. He may be able to brainwash that out of himself but subconsciously somewhere deep in his heart of hearts, he knows. His soul knows. There is an end point here. You’re not going to fight to the death, like we all like to say we do. That’s not actually who you are inside,” Brown said.
“That’s not a knock on Ilia Topuria either. The fact that he went as far as he did in that fight is pretty (expletive) impressive. But we all have a breaking point. Say what the (expletive) you want about it, we all have a(expletive) breaking point. You can talk about how you’ll fight to the death all you want. There’s very few people — and when I say very view, I mean one out of a billion at best, that actually have that in them.”
We’ll see what’s next for Topuria, but after taking so much damage against Gaethje, look for him to take some time off to heal up before deciding on his next move.
Ilia Topuria May Have Suffered Life-Changing Damage, Says Vet