Ilia Topuria suffered his first career setback at UFC Freedom 250 earlier this month, when Justin Gaethje broke two of his orbital bones during their lightweight title unification bout. The fight ended after four rounds when Topuria’s corner decided to call it off. After that horror show, the good news is that surgery may not be necessary for the Spaniard. But while he is currently resting and recovering, likely hoping for a quick turnaround and a rematch, UFC veteran Jorge Masvidal appears to think Topuria should avoid thinking about his return just yet.

“Ilia has some dense-a– bones, because I could have sworn that that was broken,” Masvidal said on Full Send MMA. “That’s amazing. So, if what we’re assuming is correct, he’s not going to need surgery. He’s going to be able to heal up a lot faster and get in. He’s not going to have this six-week period where he can’t be in the gym doing anything because he had that surgery. Now he can still do his cardio. He can probably do pad work soon, hit the bag, jump rope, and I don’t know about any contact. Even if it’s light drilling, I wouldn’t recommend that.”

The athletic commission has handed him a 180-day medical suspension with a mandatory 60-day no-contact period, but unlike what Masvidal suggests, Ilia Topuria would want to return as soon as the suspension ends in mid-December. This is very much in line with what Topuria’s physical trainer, Jesus Gallo, revealed recently.

“I think we’re talking about at least 2 to 3 months, easily,” he told SerEbro EnlosDeportes. “If you saw us in a rematch or in a fight, it would be toward the end of the year, in December. Who knows? We’ll see.”

Despite that timeline, ‘Gamebred’ believes patience is the better option.

“For him to fight in December, it’s six months,” he continued on the podcast. “I don’t like to rush young guys like that. I don’t like to get a superstar and, when they have some trials and tribulations, push him in there too fast. Me, personally, if I was his coach or manager, I wouldn’t put him in there this year.”

If we go by guidance from the Cleveland Clinic and a review published in the Journal of Emergencies, the timeline provided by Ilia Topuria’s team also matches standard medical guidance for non-displaced orbital fractures.

When surgery is not required, the bone typically heals in six to eight weeks, with a two- to three-month recovery period before returning to full contact training and competition.

One notable example of this situation is Tony Ferguson, who fractured his orbital bone during his brutal TKO loss to Justin Gaethje back at UFC 249. Despite the amount of damage ‘El Cucuy’ sustained during the fight, the fracture didn’t require surgery. He eventually returned to the Octagon around seven months later, proving that fighters may fully recover from this type of injury without surgery if the healing process goes as expected.

So, if Ilia Topuria’s injuries actually do continue to heal as expected, a medical comeback in December is within reach. Nonetheless, Jorge Masvidal believes the UFC would be better off giving one of its biggest stars some more time before putting him back in a championship fight.