Error code: %{errorCode}
Ilia Topuria fires back at Terence Crawford as war of words heats up
UFC champion Ilia Topuria has fired back at Terence Crawford after he tried to dismiss the UFC champion for calling him out following his win over Canelo Alvarez.
The pair have been going back and forth for almost two weeks after Topuria posted a picture of the their recent meeting at the UFC Performance Institute in Las Vegas, and followed up by saying that he would knock out Crawford in the first round of a boxing fight.
Asked about Topuria's call out during an appearance on The Ariel Helwani Show on Monday, Crawford responded: “When he saw me at the UFC, he came up to shake my hand and say what's up to me. I ain't even know who he was.
"But then I see him online talking about how he'll knock me out in the first round and now this. Well, if you wanted to fight me, you had the opportunity to tell me, like, 'Hey, man, I want to fight you. What's up?' That's fake. I’m not going to hide behind a keyboard.”
Topuria fired back at Crawford on Tuesday as he wrote on X: “You say you’re an MMA fan, but you don’t even know who I am… interesting. The first time we met, you told me ‘Good luck this week with your fight.’
“Your memory fails you… And soon your chin will too. I’ll represent the entire MMA community. Pound-for-pound #1 in real fights vs the pound-for-pound boxer.”
Ed Mulholland/TKO Worldwide LLC via Getty Images
The newly crowned undisputed super middleweight champion unknowingly provoked Topuria after a week of silence by walking out to face Canelo to the same song the UFC lightweight champion uses for his own fights - “Canción del Mariachi”.
This led to Topuria saying on social media: “First, he calls [me] drunk, then he walks out to my song. Crawford, whenever you want, I'll teach you how to dance that mariachi in the ring. And Canelo, I'll save you a round after him.
This saga of social media vitriol would lead many to believe the two men are trying to set up a crossover fight, emulating the likes of Floyd Mayweather vs Conor McGregor. Both men have had comparisons drawn between them and their respective counterparts, but Crawford dispelled any chance of getting in the ring with Topuria.
He said: "What money would I get out of fighting him? Tell me how much I'm going to get out of fighting him? He's nowhere near the level of Conor McGregor. Let's be real. Don't even compare him to Conor."
Watch the biggest fights and best fighters with a DAZN subscription
A DAZN subscription provides access to over 185 fights a year across a range of combat sports from the world's best promoters.
