UFC lightweight champion Ilia Topuria can’t seem to stick to one narrative. He previously claimed he would be willing to fight Ryan Garcia in a boxing match and beat the WBC welterweight champion easily. However, now his stance appears to be changing on the matter. While appearing in an interview with Eurosport España, ‘El Matador’ has dismissed the idea while also revealing the only condition to fight in a boxing match. 

“Whoever is at the top of the mountain is the one I’m going to target,” Topuria said. “Ryan Garcia, well, I don’t know. He’s not an established champion. He’s not at my level. Hasn’t done the things I’ve done in my sport. I need to face someone who’s done things just as great as I have in my sport.”

Despite contradicting himself, Topuria isn’t wrong. Ryan Garcia has only one full title, the WBC welterweight belt, and that too came earlier this year. He defeated Mario Barrios to become the champion, having previously held the interim WBC lightweight title. Topuria, in comparison, is a former two-division champion. On top of that, he remains undefeated. 

However, that doesn’t mean he can beat Ryan Garcia outright. Several top MMA stars have made the transition, including Conor McGregor, but have failed to beat a boxer. Although Garcia isn’t the best boxer out there, he will be a challenge for the Spaniard if he decides to change disciplines. But Topuria wasn’t done with Garcia.

“The boxing world is full of paquetes right now,” Topuria added. “Boxers going into the ring just wanting to win. It’s like they’re scoring points; they are willing to pay any price to get a victory. For example, speaking of Ryan Garcia. He is someone who uses steroids at that level. It’s really bad. You don’t represent the sport. 

“You don’t represent true victory; you don’t represent true value we athletes want to instill in people.”

Topuria is, of course, referring to Garcia’s April 2024 positive Ostarine test after his win over Devin Haney. Despite winning the bout via majority decision, the fight was declared a no-contest after Garcia’s test results came to light. Regardless, Ilia Topuria has also claimed that he would be open to facing Shakur Stevenson in a boxing match.

Despite what he claims, he first has to seek permission from the UFC and Dana White. As far as he is concerned, the UFC CEO would let him make the transition in a heartbeat. Whether that happens is yet to be seen, but there’s another fighter the Spaniard wanted to fight: Terence Crawford. However, even in that case, he appears to have backtracked. 

Ilia Topuria politely withdraws the challenge to Terence Crawford

The UFC lightweight champion previously targeted a crossover fight with Crawford. And he even claimed he could knock out the former undisputed champion if they ever met in the boxing ring. Their exchanges generated plenty of buzz but never progressed beyond words.

But now that Crawford has retired after his historic victory over Canelo Alvarez, Topuria has adopted a far more respectful tone. Speaking on The Ariel Helwani Show, the Spaniard praised Crawford’s accomplishments and made it clear he has no interest in calling him out anymore.

“Now that he’s retired, congrats to him for an amazing career that he had,” Topuria said. “He’s one of those boxers that I like to watch. I have learned many, many things from his style, so I don’t wanna even talk or challenge him because he’s retired. So I wish him all the best to him and his family.”

Topuria faces Justin Gaethje on June 14 at UFC Freedom 250 for the lightweight belt. However, it would be interesting to see whether he ever gets his wish to fight in a boxing match.