Josh Emmett (19-5 MMA, 10-5 UFC) knows and has seen the power of current UFC Lightweight Champion Ilia Topuria (17-0 MMA, 9-0 UFC) firsthand. When Topuria was in the UFC featherweight division, Emmett served as his foe on the other side of the cage two summers ago.
That evening, Josh Emmett and Ilia Topuria squared off for a five-round contest inside the famous Octagon when the UFC touched down in Jacksonville for a card airing on the ABC television network inside the United States, with the latter coming away as the victor on the scorecards by way of unanimous decision (50-44, 50-42, 49-45.) Topuria scored a 10-7 fourth round in the main event on one scorecard.
Two summers removed from that clash in the Sunshine State of Florida, Topuria vacated his UFC Featherweight Championship to pursue opportunities for gold at 155 lbs. A week ago Saturday, his pursuit of the title was a most successful one.
During UFC 317 last Saturday evening inside T-Mobile Arena in Enterprise, NV, Ilia Topuria recorded a vicious knockout less than halfway through the opening round of the main event of the evening. The finish fulfilled a promise by Topuria that Charles Oliveira (35-11, 1 NC MMA, 23-11, 1 NC UFC) would be stopped inside the opening round of the contest.
Josh Emmett Not Shocked at Result
Given that Josh Emmett has gone toe to toe with the new lightweight champion, he knew what to expect from him when the fight against Charles Oliveira happened on June 28 in Las Vegas. Emmett was recently interviewed by USA Today’s MMA Junkie about last Saturday evening’s result in the Octagon.
“He’s great,” Josh Emmett said to begin his comments on Topuria. “I did expect him to do great things just because he’s so technically sound. When we fought, people were asking me that, ‘How hard does he hit?’, and yeah, of course, he hits hard, but from a pure– when we were fighting, I feel like I’ve been hit harder [than that] by people who I’ve fought.”
Josh Emmett on Ilia Topuria’s Movement Inside the Octagon
In that same interview, Josh Emmett zeroed in on one aspect of Ilia Topuria’s fight acumen that sets him apart from his opponents when the cage door shuts inside the Octagon on a given Saturday night.
“His footwork is good,” Emmett continued. “He’s always in a really good position. He’s fast and he’s very precise and accurate.”
As far as Josh Emmett’s career inside the fabled UFC Octagon is concerned, he’s about three months removed from an appearance inside the UFC Apex facility in Enterprise during a UFC Fight Night, losing by way of unanimous decision after 25 minutes of action on the scorecards. He’s 2-3 in his last five fights with that result.
Josh Emmett Updates His Pound-for-Pound Rankings
Currently, the UFC’s pound-for-pound rankings have Ilia Topuria ranked No. 1, while Islam Makhachev is at No. 2 as of the rankings’ July 1 update. Given that Jon Jones is retired from active competition as of June 21 after UFC Baku, Josh Emmett provided a revision of his personal pound-for-pound rankings.
“Obviously Jon Jones just retired,” Emmett said. “I would say he would have to be [No. 1 in the] pound-for-pound [rankings,] but now, since he’s no longer with the UFC, it’s definitely, I’d say a toss-up between Islam and Ilia. Now that Ilia is a two-divisional champion [and] undefeated, I would probably be leaning towards him.”
Final Thoughts
These are glowing words from Josh Emmett, who fought a lopsided contest against Topuria in June of 2023. Ilia Topuria is a man who clearly deserves this kind of respect from Josh Emmett.
Statistically speaking, Ilia Topuria has won 78 percent of his fights in the UFC inside the distance. When Topuria walks into the cage, the odds are that the judges’ scorecards are not going to be needed after the horn blares to end the final scheduled round of the fight.
Although Josh Emmett didn’t get the win in Jacksonville a couple of years ago, he was one of only two opponents to go the distance with Ilia Topuria in the latter’s MMA career. When a tough fighter gets taken to the limit, like what happened in the Josh Emmett versus Ilia Topuria contest two years ago, the fighter in question deserves all the respect in the world.
