Former two-division UFC champion turned commentator has made a bold prediction for a certain UFC fighter this year.
Daniel Cormier thinks UFC featherweight champion Ilia Topuria will take over in 2025 and become the UFC's next big star.
“You have to beat the prior generation to take from it,” Cormier told MMA Junkie. “It’s like (professional) wrestling. The old champion gets pinned by the new champion to build. That’s why The Ultimate Warrior pinned Hulk Hogan, and Hulk Hogan didn’t like to get pinned. But they needed him to get the rub, and now what Ilia is going to do is take a lot of that shine from Volkanovski and Max – especially if Volk gets a rematch and he beats him again – into what will become a global superstar.”
In 2024, Topuria defeated both former champion Alexander Volkanovski and former champion Max Holloway, both by knockout. In fact, prior to fighting Topuria, Holloway had never been knocked out.
Looking ahead, Cormier thinks Topuria will fight Diego Lopes and Movsar Evloev.
“I think he’s still got work to do at 145,” Cormier said. “Unfortunately, he’s going to beat the guys that sell early, so he’s going to have to carry Diego Lopes, he’s going to have to carry Evloev to numbers. Because the numbers in the weight class now for the last nine years have belonged to Volkanovski and Holloway. He’s going to have to carry those new guys because they don’t have the cache that these last two had.”
So far Topuria isn't booked for his next title defense, but that should be coming soon.
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