Israel Adesanya warns Ilia Topuria over Justin Gaethje rematch

Israel Adesanya has warned Ilia Topuria over a Justin Gaethje rematch, saying, “I’d advise him not to take it with Justin.”

Topuria, the former lightweight UFC champion, was dethroned by Gaethje, winning the title unification fight by TKO. The defeat was the Spanish-Georgian fighter's first of his career.

Ilia appeared a little too eager and cocky at the beginning of the bout, walking right into Gaethje’s power, trying for a quick knockout. That led to damage that left him fighting blind with two broken orbital bones. And his corner had to throw the towel in to save him from further damage after the fourth round.

Topuria was underground since the fight against Justin and broke his silence last week, saying he is cleared to fight.

Adesanya knows what it takes to suffer a devastating loss and then get back in the cage with the same dangerous opponent.

In Adesanya’s case, his longtime rival Alex Pereira defeated him in the rematch after losing the first and snatched his middleweight title.

“Ilia said he’s just cleared to fight recently, so he could probably fight,” Adesanya said on the Precision podcast.

“I think he should fight around the same time or right before. I think this year, December’s good. Ilia’s still a big name. I’m not going by what the internet says, I was trying to think, is it good for him to just wait and get an immediate [title shot]?”

Israel Adesanya continued, saying he would advise Ilia Topuria to not go into a rematch with Justin.

“After a beating like that—because again, I’ve been on the receiving end of one of them—you have to realize, OK, how can I come back from this? Because I know how it is as a fighter when you take an L and you feel like, ‘Man,’” Adesanya said.

“Best way I can say is Pereira, I went back straight away because I already had an immediate rematch cause or whatever. I don’t know if Ilia has that, but I’d advise him not to take it with Justin, because I think getting another win before cracking the title shot again would be best for him.”