Ilia Topuria, Ryan Garcia get heated over potential boxing match: ‘You would be eating through a straw after our fight’
UFC lightweight champion Ilia Topuria and boxer Ryan Garcia aren’t likely to fight each other any time soon — if ever — but that didn’t stop them from engaging in a war of words over that potential showdown.
As he gears up to defend his title in the main event at the UFC White House card in June, Topuria touted his interest in not only making the move to boxing one day but he’s confident he would find immediate success. In fact, Topuria said in a recent interview that he would be “very comfortable” taking on someone like Garcia and he expects to “break him” long before the final bell.
Garcia, who just recently announced his next fight against Zuffa Boxing’s Conor Benn in September, admits Topuria is a good striker for MMA but that’s not the same as facing and defeating a world class boxer.
“You are a damn good striker for MMA that’s it,” Garcia wrote on Twitter. “You wouldn’t be sipping on tea after our fight you would be eating through a straw after our fight. Stay in your lane. I’ll gladly stay in mine.”
It didn’t take long for Topuria to see that comment and fire back at Garcia.
“You built your name on hype,” Topuria said in response. “I built my by putting legends to sleep. I would give you a boxing lesson. We are not on the same level. Bring the guy that you fight in September. I would beat both o you in the same ring.”
The war of words continued with Garcia calling Topuria a “hype job” who has little to no chance to do much of anything against him in a boxing ring.
“I built my name sleeping guys that are way better boxers then you will ever be,” Garcia said. “You’ve seen many MMA fighters try and you’ll just be another UFC hype job cashing out by getting knocked out by a boxer.”
That led to Topuria bringing up a bad time in Garcia’s career after he scored an impressive win over Devin Haney but tested positive for the banned substance Ostarine afterwards. That changed his win to a no-contest and Garcia was handed a one-year suspension from the New York State Athletic Commission.
“The biggest win of your career came with steroids,” Topuria said. “So that’s where your confidence comes from? Interesting.”
As much as Topuria might want to punch Garcia’s head off, it’s highly unlikely they’re going to meet in the ring, octagon or anywhere else for that matter.
Ever since Conor McGregor staged a massive boxing match against Floyd Mayweather in 2017, the UFC has effectively shut down any other requests from fighters to pursue similar fights.
So as long as Topuria remains under UFC contract, he’s probably going to stick with MMA but given his growing popularity, anything is possible or the future.
As for Garcia, he announced his matchup against Benn for Sept. 12, although further details haven’t been revealed yet about the matchup.
