UFC: Featherweight prospect predicts outcome of Alexander Volkanovski vs Ilia Topuria bout

Alexander Volkanovski will have to defend his featherweight championship against Ilia Topuria next. He successfully defended his title against Yair Rodriguez at UFC 290. He then expressed his desire to face either of Islam Makhachev or Ilia Topuria in a rematch. Makhachev is expected to be busy with his defense of the lightweight belt against Charles Oliveira in October. Therefore, it is highly plausible that a bout with Topuri could be on the cards.

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Talking about the possible bout, featherweight prospect Francis Marshall gave his take. "I think Ilia matches up pretty well with Volkanovski. He's a big pressure fighter as well he kind of keeps coming forward but at the end of the day, Volkanovski just has everyone's number in the division right now. But you never know, Ilia might come out and surprise him, he hits hard, has good striking, good cardio, so I think that could be a very good well-matched fight," he told Sportkeeda MMA in an interview.

Ilia Topuria’s bold statement ahead of the bout against Alexander Volkanovski

Topuria himself dropped a few bold statements previewing his possible clash against Volkanovski. Apparently, he was not really impressed by Volkanovski in his fight against Yair Rodriguez at UFC 290. “Nothing special, He did what he was supposed to do. He did a good job in the fight. He took him down, ground and pound. ... I wasn’t impressed at all. I saw what I was supposed to see – you know, beat because I never liked Yair’s fight style,” he said downplaying the featherweight champion’s performance on an episode of the MMA Hour Podcast.

“For me, it’s going to be an easy fight . ... Every time I move up in the rankings, every fight is going to be more easy for me. And why? Because it’s more easy to have a game plan against guys who are more technical than fight with someone who’s unpredictable,” he added previewing his fight against Volkanovski in the same podcast.