Joe Rogan warns Ilia Topuria against coming back too soon

Joe Rogan has warned Ilia Topuria not to make the mistake of coming back too soon after being beaten by Justin Gaethje back in June.

Topuria, the former lightweight UFC champion, was dethroned by Gaethje, winning the title unification bout by TKO at UFC Freedom 250.

After Topuria narrowly edged two highly competitive opening rounds, Gaethje turned the contest on its head with a devastating right hand, followed by a relentless barrage of punches that left the Spaniard badly swollen and bloodied.

Struggling with impaired vision, Topuria was examined by the ringside doctor before being allowed to continue into the fourth round.

However, his corner chose to stop the fight before the fifth and final round could begin.

Three months after the defeat, Topuria has re-emerged from a media blackout and is now pushing for an immediate return.

But according to Rogan, it is too soon for him to make a comeback.

“It’s going to be interesting to see how he rebounds because that was a lot of damage,” Rogan said on the latest episode of his podcast.

“Two fractured orbitals, they had to stop the fight in between rounds. And he took big punches from a guy who’s got [expletive deleted] rocks in his hands. He’s had a couple of months, but he probably needs like six months before he’s even sparring again.”

Rogan added that he knows Topuria is mentally very strong and will bounce back strong, but he needs to recover carefully.

“He’s a very mentally strong guy, and I think he will bounce back in that regard,” Rogan continued.

“It’s just there’s also the reality of how much damage, and only he knows how much damage he actually took in that fight, how that affects him as well … there’s only a few of those kind of fights that you could have in your career, and you got to be very careful how you recover from those.”

Topuria is linked with a rematch against Gaethje and he would also not mind a soft rebound against Paddy Pimblett.