Israel Adesanya advises Ilia Topuria against Justin Gaethje rematch

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Ilia Topuria at UFC White House | Jeff Bottari, Zuffa LLC Israel Adesanya knows what it means to suffer a devastating loss and then get right back in the cage against a dangerous opponent. In Adesanya’s case, his longtime rival Alex Pereira followed him to the world of MMA and the two eventually clashed at UFC 281 when Adesanya was middleweight champion. Pereira already held two kickboxing victories—a contentious decision and a sensational comeback knockout—over Adesanya, and he made it three wins with another late finish to shock the world and capture UFC gold in just his eighth MMA fight. Adesanya immediately avenged the loss at UFC 287, knocking “Poatan” out cold to finally score a win in their series. He considered his own situation while discussing what former two-division UFC champion Ilia Topuria should do in the wake of a devastating upset loss to Justin Gaethje at UFC White House. Topuria recently announced he is fit to fight again and is eyeing an immediate rematch, but Adesanya advises against it. “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]? “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.’ 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.” Topuria was a massive favorite to defeat Gaethje this past June, having won UFC titles at 155 and 145 pounds with highlight-reel knockouts over legends Charles Oliveira, Max Holloway, and Alexander Volkanovski. However, Topuria was soundly beaten by Gaethje, who overcame an early scare to pummel Topuria for the better part of four rounds, leaving “El Matador” unable to answer the bell for Round 5. Even if Topuria is set on rematching Gaethje, Adesanya thinks the obvious choice to challenge Gaethje next is UFC 331 winner Arman Tsarukyan. The No. 1 lightweight contender delivered a Performance of the Night-winning knockout over Mauricio Ruffy this past Saturday and has now won 11 of his past 12 fights. And as soon as Gaethje is ready, Adesanya wants to see that matchup locked in. “I think Arman’s next,” Adesanya said. “He and Justin Gaethje has to be the next fight, who else? September, October, that could happen this year. [If] they’re already booked out, January, they could do that in January.” TOP STORIES Report. It has to be asked: Did Gable Steveson have the worst fight week ever? Op-ed. What can Valentina Shevchenko do to save women’s MMA? Bones. Jon Jones speaks in the wake of his protege Steveson’s shocking UFC 331 loss. Voices. Marlon “Chito” Vera knew time was running out before he beat Charles Jourdain to stop a career-worst skid. Compromised. Joshua Van had a serious injury not long before he had to rematch Alexandre Pantoja. Pain. Check out the list of medical suspensions in the aftermath of UFC 331. VIDEO STEW It’s official. UFC 331 reactions. SOCIAL MEDIA BOUILLABAISSE The best knockouts of the week. 🧵Hilo con los mejores KOs/TKOs de la semana. Top 15 — Barrele la pierna (@Barrelelapierna) September 21, 2026 THE ULTIMATE FIGHTER 34 FINALE THIS SATURDAY It has all led to this 😤 The #TUF34 finalists are ready to bring out their best to earn the @UFC contract! [ #UFCVegas121 | LIVE SEP 26 at 8pmET on @ParamountPlus ] pic.twitter.com/sBtz6Gf9Nq — The Ultimate Fighter (@UltimateFighter) September 21, 2026 Art. Every logo starts somewhere… The early sketches and creation process behind the Ki MMA logo. pic.twitter.com/JqZZKztjxi — Ki MMA (@ki_mmaofficial) September 21, 2026 Respect. @Pantojamma thx you!! You are a great champion, you got nothing but respect from me!! — Joshua Van (@JoshuaVanBT) September 20, 2026 Less respect. You’re all going to be surprised by how easy I make this fight look. https://t.co/4jtWsnH8nw — Manel Kape (@ManelKape) September 21, 2026 What. Nothing a bath full of beans can’t fix — Arnold billy allen (@Arnoldbfa) September 21, 2026 Shavkat. View this post on Instagram Yup. I think what makes Gable Steveson leaving the cage the way he did on Saturday is that Alonzo Menifield stayed in the cage with a bone literally sticking out of his thumb. — Blaine Henry (@BlaineHenryTFL) September 21, 2026 Great breakdown of a crazy sequence. before casey o'neill got sub of the year she showed some excellent fundamental anaconda defense frame on the hip to make space from the opponent frame on the secondary elbow to disrupt the lock pic.twitter.com/e7ZQuLCt79 — Open Note Grappling 📝 (@OpenNoteGrapple) September 20, 2026 Real? View this post on Instagram Perspective. At the end of 2012 the total number of title defenses among male UFC champions was 32 Cain 0 Jones 4 Silva 10 GSP 7 Benson 2 Aldo 5 Cruz 4 DJ 0 https://t.co/3Q8yuuLNg0 — Miguel Class (@MigClass) September 21, 2026 Make it make sense. The punchline is that Foster signed off on Power Slap. Is the intent of every strike not to cause damage or injury? Yes, they are dangerous, that's the point. Again, might as well ban any kind of joint lock. https://t.co/IhLVNPPitz — caposa (@Grabaka_Hitman) September 21, 2026 FEED ME MORE Mail time! FINAL THOUGHTS I’m still buzzing after that UFC 331 card, man. Just one feel-good moment after another (Alonzo Menifield’s thumb excluded). MMA is supposed to be fun and on nights like that, it is! If you find something you’d like to see in the Morning Report, hit up @AlexanderKLee or @JedKMeshew on Twitter and let us know about it. Also, follow MMAFighting on Twitter, Instagram, YouTube, TikTok, Twitch, and like us on Facebook.