UFC lightweight champion Ilia Topuria may have just won himself some new fans.
During a livestream with the Nelk Boys on Wednesday. El Matador can be seen dropping co-founder Kyle Forgeard and Full Send Podcast co-host Aaron ‘Steiny’ Steinberg with brutal right hands.
In the shortened clip, Steinberg can be seen looking to close the distance, leading to Topuria framing with his left arm to create space and force his opponent to retreat. Moments later, when Steinberg looks to sit down on a right hand, Topuria counters with one of his own that lands clean.
In a separate clip, Topuria can then be seen dropping Forgeard with a combination.
The full highlights from the stream show Topuria grappling with Forgeard, Steinberg, and another Nelk Boys member, Salim ‘The Dream’ Sirur, before the group then throws on the gloves for some striking rounds.
The grappling footage can be seen starting at the one-minute mark of the video below, while the striking rounds, where Topuria drops Forgeard and Steinberg several times, can be seen starting at the 2:37 mark.
Ilia Topuria Responds to Max Holloway’s Callout
Heading into Saturday’s UFC 318 main event between Max Holloway and Dustin Poirier, the former featherweight kingpin made it clear that he had unfinished business with Ilia Topuria.
Following his unanimous decision win on Saturday, Holloway called out Topuria, indicating that he isn’t a fan of El Matador carrying around a fake BMF title. The way he sees things, Topuria carrying around a fake BMF belt is the equivalent of Islam Makhachev carrying around a second UFC title for defeating Alexander Volkanovski.
During his appearance on the Full Send Podcast on Wednesday, Topuria fired back:
“That’s not my problem. I just knocked him out. How can you still be the BMF if I knocked you out? I pointed to the ground in the first 10 seconds. You ran away. Then I caught you anyways and I put you to sleep. And you’re still the BMF? How’s that?”
So far, Holloway has yet to respond.
Ilia Topuria Wants to Fight Canelo vs. Crawford Winner
While Ilia Topuria has a number of contenders like Arman Tsarukyan, Justin Gaethje, Max Holloway, and Paddy Pimblett eager to fight for the belt, El Matador is also keeping an eye on the buildup to the Canelo Alvarez vs. Terrance Crawford boxing match set to take place on Sept. 13 in Las Vegas.
As he explained during his livestream with the Nelk Boys, he wants to become just the second fighter on the UFC roster to compete in a boxing match while holding UFC gold.
With six months to just focus on his boxing, Topuria believes that he can be a world champion in boxing.
“I would love to go against the winner of Canelo vs. Crawford. The only thing is that, I don’t wanna have that rivalry with Canelo, cause he was my idol and I learned so many things from him. “
Of course, as we’ve seen with fighters like Francis Ngannou, who wanted to fight Tyson Fury while sitting atop the heavyweight division, the UFC brass isn’t keen on doing another McGregor-Mayweather type crossover bout.
Like Heavy Sports’s content? Be sure to follow us.
This article was originally published on Heavy Sports
The post WATCH | Ilia Topuria Drops Nelk Boys During Sparring appeared first on Heavy Sports.