Ilia Topuria says Gaethje pressing forward is the exact game plan he wants to see on Sunday, predicting a first or second-round knockout and declaring he will show Gaethje no respect after the fight due to the personal nature of their build-up.
Topuria spoke to MMA Junkie and other reporters in Washington on Tuesday.
I think everyone knows that it’s a very tough matchup for Justin — that it’s basically impossible to get the victory. But that’s the beautiful thing about our business: that anything can happen in a fight.
On Gaethje’s stated plan to press forward and make the fight uncomfortable, Topuria pointed to a recent example.
If he’s going to do what he’s been saying, that he’s going to try to move forward and all that, that’s all I need. Just try to move forward and I’m going to have half the job already done. Charles, he tried to move forward all the time. His game plan was the same as Justin is saying. But what happened? How long it took me to knock him out? What Charles has and Justin doesn’t is that he’s very dangerous on the ground. But with Justin, I’m not going to have that. I don’t think — I know for a fact that if he’s going to try to move forward, I’m going to knock him out in two minutes. I’m too good for him.
On the post-fight handshake, Topuria was clear.
I always had the desire to knock him out. But this time it was like if after I knocked him out, I would shake his hand and show him some respect. This time, it’s not going to be like that. I’m not going to show him any respect. I always had the perception that he was kind of an idiot. He just confirmed that.
