Ilia Topuria has started counting down. The former featherweight king told reporters he sees “two or three fights” left in his Octagon career, according to LowKickMMA, and in a separate interview he went a step further and floated retiring after his next one.
“I’ve achieved everything, and after this fight, what else? Maybe I’ll even retire,” Topuria said in comments shared by FightLuck on X. In the same clip he made his target obvious: “I’m coming back in April. Paddy, Paddy, Paddy.”
The timing makes the talk easier to understand. Topuria is coming off the fight with Justin Gaethje that ended when his brother stepped in and stopped it, and he isn’t pretending that night was anything other than ugly. “I’ve faced the worst day of my job. What’s worse? Dying?” he said. Speaking to Adam Catterall, he credited his brother for the call: “If he wouldn’t stop the fight, probably I wouldn’t be able to fight again in my life. I’m so grateful with my brother.”
View post on X
That is a fighter who saw the edge of his career up close and decided to plan the exit himself.
The Return Date and the Gaethje Problem
The UFC is already building toward the comeback. Dana White told Jim Rome the promotion is working on Topuria’s return fight. “He’ll come back in early 2027. We’re working on that,” White said. Topuria’s April target fits inside that window.
View post on X
What doesn’t fit neatly is how he’s talking about the man who beat him. In an interview with ABC España, highlighted by Championship Rounds on X, Topuria said Gaethje has no input on what comes next. “He won’t have any say in absolutely anything. He doesn’t call any shots. This is between the UFC and me,” he said, before adding, “Justin is a nobody.” He argued that a fight with Paddy would be big enough to bump Gaethje, as champion, into the co-main slot.
One name he’s taking off the board is Alexander Volkanovski. Topuria called Volkanovski the best featherweight in history and said he’s grown too fond of him to want a rematch. “Honestly, I respect him so much and I’ve grown so fond of him that I couldn’t hit him,” he said. He pointed to his own wins over Volkanovski and Max Holloway but said Volkanovski’s body of work over the years outranks his.
View post on X
Quick Take
I like the honesty about the damage, and I like a fighter setting his own retirement clock instead of letting a scary night set it for him. The Volkanovski answer is gracious and, frankly, correct on résumé. The Gaethje stuff is where I get off the bus. You can’t spend one breath thanking your brother for saving your career and the next calling the guy who put you there a nobody. If Topuria only has two or three fights left, picking the biggest paycheck first makes sense. But the fight his legacy actually needs is the one he’s trying to talk his way around. If the UFC gets him back in April, I’d want to see whether he made real adjustments since the Gaethje stoppage, and I’d want to see them in a fight that answers that question.
