Ilia Topuria strongly advised not to pursue boxing match with Terence Crawford

Ilia Topuria has been calling for a showdown with boxing great Terence Crawford, but one UFC fighter doesn’t think it’s a good idea.

Topuria has certainly seen his stock soar thanks to stellar performances against Alexander Volkanovski, Max Holloway, and Charles Oliveira. “El Matador” is a former UFC featherweight titleholder, who vacated the gold to eventually capture the lightweight championship. Many believe Topuria has taken a page out of Conor McGregor’s playbook, and his callout of “Bud” Crawford is an example of that.

While Topuria has expressed confidence in his ability to upset the newly minted undisputed super middleweight champion in a boxing ring, Michael Chiesa told MMAJunkie.com that he is not a fan of the fantasy matchup.

“Absolutely not,” Chiesa said. “We lost Conor McGregor after the Floyd Mayweather fight. That’s not the goal with Zuffa boxing. Essentially, that would be if we pulled Topuria up into that space, that would mean that that’s part of their MO. Look, anything could happen. Floyd is different from Crawford in the sense that – I’m not saying Crawford doesn’t know how to promote a fight, but Floyd was a master at that.

“He was good at taking jabs, poking fun, kind of selling his brand a little bit. ‘Bud’ sells his brand because he can downright fight. He’s just damn good, and Floyd was as well. And Ilia’s not a Conor. That was such a one of one type thing. That was peak Conor McGregor trash talk. That was the ultimate. That was so much fun, and I’m not saying Topuria is not fun, he just doesn’t have that sharp tongue like Conor had. To make that fight happen, it takes two fighters from two different worlds that are saying the things that gets everybody’s attention.”

UFC CEO Dana White has made it clear that he doesn’t want his fighters dabbling into the sweet science. White made one exception back in 2017 to help set the stage for Floyd Mayweather vs. Conor McGregor. Despite trying to have a more firm grasp of boxing promotion these days, White hasn’t changed his stance.