UFC commentator Joe Rogan is worried about Ilia Topuria’s comeback to the cage following a beatdown loss to Justin Gaethje at UFC Freedom 250.
Topuria lost via fourth-round TKO due to facial damage that led to his corner stopping the UFC Freedom 250 main event.
Three months after that fight, Topuria says he is now motivated to get back into the cage, and there are rumors linking him to a rematch against “The Highlight.” But Rogan is worried about all the damage he took against Gaethje in their first fight.
Joe Rogan Worried About Ilia Topuria
Speaking on “The Joe Rogan Experience” podcast, Rogan admitted he is worried about Topuria’s future due to all the attrition that he absorbed against Gaethje.
“It’s going to be interesting to see how he rebounds because that was a lot of damage. Two fractured orbitals, they had to stop the fight in between rounds, and he took big punches from a guy who’s got (expletive) rocks in his hands. Justin can crack. … He’s had a couple of months, but he probably needs like six months before he’s even sparring again,” Rogan said (via MMAjunkie.com).
“He’s a very mentally strong guy, and I think he will bounce back in that regard. It’s just there’s also the reality of how much damage, and only he knows how much damage he actually took in that fight, how that affects him, as well, because there’s only a few of those kind of fights that you could have in your career, and you’ve got to be very careful how you recover from those.”
Joe Rogan Compares Ilia Topuria to Alexander Volkanovski
Rogan also compared Topuria to Alexander Volkanovski, the UFC featherweight champion, who came back after a knockout loss to Islam Makhachev up a weight class only to get knocked out by Topuria himself in his next fight.
Rogan hopes that Topuria doesn’t make the same mistake.
“A lot of fighters, a lot of great fighters have made a mistake of coming back too soon. Volkanovski is one that I point to all the time, who’s arguably the greatest featherweight of all time. He is one of the most masterful fighters in the game. He took a short, short-notice fight with Islam in the rematch and got head-kicked, and then I think it was only four months later that he was fighting Ilia, and that is crazy. That’s a crazy thing to do. He took a full head kick, shin to the dome, gets KO’d, and then four months later he’s fighting the (expletive) scariest challenger that he’s ever had to face,” Rogan said.
We shall see if the UFC ends up giving Topuria the rematch with Gaethje that he craves, and if it does happen, one would hope that he doesn’t take as much damage this time around, because if he gets hurt again, it could really hurt his career going forward, as no human being can absorb the damage that he did against Gaethje in their first fight twice.
Joe Rogan Worried About Ilia Topuria’s UFC Comeback