Joe Rogan welcomes UFC star Ilia Topuria to podcast

It’s been a little while since a UFC star appeared on an episode of The Joe Rogan Experience podcast. The wait is over, thanks to a recent visit from former featherweight champion Ilia Topuria.

Topuria is one of the top pound-for-pound fighters in the UFC right now, sporting a perfect 16-0 record. He has spent the bulk of his career competing in the featherweight division. In early 2024, he captured the division’s title with a knockout of featherweight legend Alexander Volkanovski. Later in the year, he defended the title with a knockout of another legend in Max Holloway. He was the first man to stop Holloway with strikes.

Topuria was on top of the world after his wins over Volkanovski and Holloway. He then spun the world on axis by announcing his decision to vacate the belt and move permanently up to lightweight. That set the stage for Volkanovski to claim the vacant title with a decision win over Diego Lopes at UFC 314 last weekend.

Topuria, though, has not yet fought at lightweight. There’s been much discussion about who he’ll fight first in the division. Perhaps we’ll get some answers when he appears on the Joe Rogan Experience podcast.

It’s not yet clear when Topuria’s chat with Rogan will air, but the UFC fighter revealed an episode of the podcast is in the pipeline on Instagram.

 

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“With the one and only [Joe Rogan],” Topuria wrote in the caption for his post.

It was only three hours ago that Rogan published his last podcast episode, with guest Rich Vos. Episodes usually come out every few days, so we’ll probably be treated to the Topuria episode later this week or next.

Every time the long-time UFC commentator interviews a fighter, tons of interesting insights come to light. This episode will surely be no exception. We may even learn something about Topuria’s next move.