The rivalry between Ryan Garcia and Ilia Topuria appears to be heating up. The two men recently took shots at each other after teasing a potential boxing match.
Ahead of Topuria’s upcoming lightweight title fight against Justin Gaethje at UFC White House next month, the Georgian-Spanish fighter expressed a keen interest in stepping into the boxing ring someday and named Garcia as a suitable opponent. Topuria also vowed to finish Garcia in the squared circle, which irked the professional boxing superstar.
In response, Garcia admitted that while Topuria was an excellent MMA striker, he would absolutely demolish ‘El Matador’ in the boxing ring and warned the UFC star to stick to his own sport. The two men traded several shots on social media after this exchange, with Topuria bringing up Garcia’s past drug-test controversies.
In an X post, Garcia reacted to Topuria accusing him of PED use and offered to fight him, writing:
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“Aren’t MMA fighters notorious for all being on the juice? Shut your a** up. Now that you can’t stop talking, we can really do this after my fight in September, just to FLATLINE you.”
Topuria didn’t take Garcia’s comments lying down and fired back, writing:
“You tested positive and still talk about ‘flatlining’ people. That confidence is artificial. The world already saw what you needed to win. Juice in your a**.”
‘KingRy’ then responded with a shot at Topuria’s recent relationship troubles and wrote:
“Yeah, you are a weirdo. Do your research and don’t talk about anything in my a**, weirdo. You need a girlfriend again, you acting real strange.”
Ilia Topuria shares bold prediction for potential Ryan Garcia boxing match
Ilia Topuria recently shared his thoughts on venturing into boxing someday and previewed a potential fight against Ryan Garcia.
In an interview with ABC, the reigning UFC lightweight champion said:
“Boxing is definitely something where I say, ‘Wow, I’d love to do that,’ but I’d love to do it with someone big, someone real with an established name. Someone who could add to my resume, which I’ve worked so hard to build. I wouldn’t want to put it in the hands of a nobody, just for money.”
After Garcia was suggested as a potential first opponent, he added:
“That would be a huge fight, I’d love it. I see a fight like Ryan Garcia being very comfortable for me. I think I would break him long before it gets to the judges’ decision.” [H/t: MMA Junkie]
Edited by Nishant Zende.
