UFC champion Ilia Topuria has planned a massive celebration dinner the night before his lightweight title bout against Justin Gaethje at the White House.
Topuria (17-0) is heavily favored to defeat Gaethje (27-5) at UFC Freedom Fights 250 on June 14. The Georgian-Spaniard told ESPN he’s expecting a large group of supporters to travel to Washington D.C. for the event, and will host a celebration party 24 hours before he even walks to the Octagon.
“We are going to celebrate before the fight,” Topuria said. “Actually, we have everything organized. My team is already taking care of that.”
Topuria, who hosted a similar but smaller celebration ahead of his previous fight against Charles Oliveira last June, has predicted a first-round finish and says he’s actually a little disappointed by the lack of belief in his opponent.
“Honestly, what I thought [when Gaethje earned the title shot] is, ‘What a gift,'” Topuria said. “But at the same time, I didn’t know what kind of expectations the fans would have when the UFC announced I’m fighting Justin Gaethje. The conversation is not even about who is going to win, because everyone is like, ‘Ilia is going to win.’ They’re all talking about how am I going to knock him out and ‘Will Justin last one round?’ This is the conversation.”
Topuria, 29, has expressed respect for Gaethje — and even referred to him as one of his favorite fighters to watch — but admitted he felt his five-round decision over Paddy Pimblett in January looked like “a bar fight.”
“Really, it was so bad,” Topuria said. “Sometimes, I see guys in the UFC making debuts and I’m like, ‘I like the level of skill this guy or girl has.’ In that fight, for a world title, it was kind of embarrassing.”
A former featherweight and now lightweight champion, he has told the UFC he wants to eventually move to welterweight and vie for a third UFC championship — a feat that has never been accomplished.
