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Ilia Topuria beat Josh Emmett by unanimous decision on Saturday night to protect his unbeaten UFC record.
The 26-year-old overcame the fifth-ranked featherweight with a clean sweep scorecard of 50-44, 50-42, 49-45 to set a marker in the division and establish himself as a legitimate title threat.
“In reality, I wasn’t expecting to knock him out in the first round but the guy is really, really tough,” Topuria said after the fight. “I showed once again that no one can match my level of skill inside the cage.
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“I prove it every time I step inside the cage, and I do it once again tonight.”
Alexander Volkanovski will fight Yair Rodríguez in an attempt to defend his status as featherweight champion, and Topuria believes he deserves to stand against the next champion in the Octagon.
“I’m the next guy, without any doubt,” he said. “I get what I deserve, which is to be the number one and take that UFC belt.
“I want Alex [Volkanovski] to defend that belt and show to him and the whole world that his world is going to end and mine is going to start.”
As both fighters used the opening round to find their range and rhythm, “El Matador” managed to land the better blows but there were positive signs from Emmett as he started to add kicks into his tactics.
Topuria gained the upper hand in the second, though, and caught the recent interim title challenger with some heavy shots and took out his lead leg to rock the 38-year-old.
Emmet, who came into the fight off his first loss since 2018, continued to hit back but struggled to land as much power with his punches.
Topuria continued to dominate on his feet and late in the fourth, caught Emmett with a sneaky left hook as the American hit the deck.
But Emmett would fight on and gave everything in a gutsy fifth round in an attempt to defy the inevitable as Topuria closed in on a victory.
He managed to weather the offensiveness of Emmett before rediscovering his devastating form with the jab, before cruising to victory.
The Georgia and Spanish fighter came through his first main event and top ten tests to land his sixth straight UFC win and 14th consecutive victory overall.
He is now considered an intriguing potential title challenger heading into the second half of the year.
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