Matt Brown argues UFC ‘might ruin Ilia Topuria’s life’ with another savage beatdown from Justin Gaethje
Veteran UFC play-by-play man Jon Anik recently said he believes the UFC is potentially working towards an immediate rematch between Justin Gaethje and Ilia Topuria once both fighters are healthy enough to compete again in 2027.
Of course, Gaethje won the first encounter in spectacular fashion at UFC White House after he poured on the punishment to force Topuria and his coaches to throw in the towel after the fourth round ended due to the sheer amount of damage he had absorbed. It was a stunning performance from Gaethje as he finally realized his dream of becoming undisputed lightweight champion.
While a rematch is sure to sell a lot of tickets and produce monster ratings on TV, retired UFC welterweight Matt Brown believes it could be the worst thing possible for Topuria as he attempts to bounce back from an absolutely devastating loss.
“If I’m the UFC, I don’t think that’s a bad idea,” Brown said on the latest episode of The Fighter vs. The Writer. “I don’t dislike it at all. It was obviously an amazing fight, and Justin Gaethje is always going to be a banger. I don’t think it’s ever a bad idea to put him in there with another guy that’s going to be a banger. I think you have to talk with Ilia Topuria though. Because I’ve read some of the things he’s talked about, how he looked at himself in the mirror, and he’s perfectly fine with himself is what he said. How life-changing it was for him [because] he was so used to winning. I don’t know if you’re read some of these comments he’s made. But those comments raised a lot of questions for me.
“Does he need his confidence rebuilt? If you’re the UFC, do you want him to rebuild his confidence or do you want him go in there and fight a guy like Gaethje again, who’s a f*cking dog! If that happens to Ilia again, as much of his soul left during that first fight, can he regain some of that soul if that happens again ever? I think you need to talk with Ilia about it. Is he even up for that? Is that really what’s the right next move for Ilia? I think Ilia needs a confidence builder.”
Brown has seen it through personal experience that some fighters never bounce back from a major loss much less having something like that happen two times in a row.
While no two fights are the same, Brown acknowledges that Gaethje is a painfully consistent fighter, who dishes out damage almost unlike any fighter in the history of the sport. If things start going badly for Topuria in the rematch, Brown can’t help but wonder if he suffers another loss and then plain and simple he never comes back the same again.
“I get where the UFC is coming from. I get where the UFC would want to make that fight,” Brown said. “The downside of that fight, you might ruin Ilia Topuria’s life. If that first fight repeats itself, I’m not sure Ilia comes back the same. I’m not sure he comes back from the first one already. If you actually care about Ilia’s life, you need to put him in there with someone like a [Renato] Moicano.
“He needs a proper return fight, in my opinion. You see this in boxing all the time. Guys don’t come back from wars like that and go try again unless it’s like [Arturo] Gatti and [Micky] Ward. It’s pretty rare that these type of fights get rebooked and it happens right away. You’ve got to rebuild it back up and give the guy a tuneup when you come off a loss.”
Of course, Gaethje has already said he doesn’t have any real interest in running it back with Topuria again because of the way the first fight ended with the now former UFC champion quitting on the stool. There was no controversy, no early stoppages and nobody just got caught in a rapid-fire sequence to end the fight.
Instead, Topuria and his coaches decided he couldn’t take anymore, and they called a stop to the fight.
Topuria then had to return home to recover from all of the injuries suffered that night as he now looks to rebuild and get back in a position to potentially fight for that title one day.
Brown believes Topuria can get there over time, but throwing him directly back into the same fire he just escaped after falling to Gaethje in June, could completely change him forever.
“You’ve got to realize what was taken from him that night,” Brown said about Topuria. “A lot of f*cking pieces of him physically, mentally, spiritually left and Justin Gaethje f*cking ate that shit and spit it back out and will do it again. Not saying he’d win again but if you’re Ilia Topuria, you’ve got to be careful of that.
“I don’t think people understand the level of f*cking hurt that Justin put on him. He was talking about two broken orbitals, a broken nose, a broken foot. Guys quit from one broken orbital. Guys quit from a broken nose. Guys quit from a f*cking broken foot. Ilia f*cking survived. He is a f*cking survivor. He is a tough son of a bitch. That’s clear [and] Justin made him stop on the stool.”
