Joe Rogan: UFC champ Ilia Topuria MMA's 'new high-water mark' because he has no weaknesses
Joe Rogan thinks it’s time to start putting Ilia Topuria’s name in the best pound-for-pound list.
Topuria (16-0 MMA, 8-0 UFC) retained his featherweight title when he became the first fighter to knock out Max Holloway (26-8 MMA, 22-8 UFC) in this past Saturday’s UFC 308 headliner in Abu Dhabi.
The unbeaten phenom has now knocked out featherweight greats Alexander Volkanovski and Holloway back-to-back, and Rogan raved about Topuria’s well-rounded skillset.
“Ilia is fast as f*ck,” Rogan said in a recent episode of “The Joe Rogan Experience.” “He’s not slow at all. He doesn’t have any disadvantages. He doesn’t have any weaknesses, man. That’s the thing. That’s why I say he’s the new high-water mark. There’s people that are thinking he’s the best pound-for-pound fighter alive.
“There’s a lot of discussion about that online. It’s a little premature, especially with Jon Jones still out there, and there are other elite guys still out there – Islam Makhachev is another one. There’s a real argument that he’s the best pound-for-pound guy alive, but it’s f*cking close. Ilia – he might be the best.”
Topuria’s first seven professional wins all came by submission until he scored his first-career knockout in November 2019 – his final fight before signing with the UFC. Since then, “El Matador” has fallen in love with his boxing, scoring knockouts in five of his next eight fights.