Ilia Topuria has turn into one among the largest stars within the UFC following his remarkable rise to turn into a two-time UFC champion.
At UFC 317, ‘El Matador’ achieved success in a second weight class by winning the vacant lightweight title after vacating his featherweight belt.
Topuria’s knockout over Charles Oliveira has led to fans questioning whether his recent run is the very best in UFC history.
Topuria is now ranked as the highest pound-for-pound fighter in the game, but some imagine that he may already be within the conversation as one among the all-time greats.
His performance on Saturday night even caught the eye of the largest star within the history of the game, with Conor McGregor sharing his thoughts on Topuria’s win.
Eddie Alvarez ranks Ilia Topuria one spot higher than Conor McGregor on list of UFC’s two-division champions
In a recent video with MMA Junkie’s Mike Bohn, former UFC lightweight champion Eddie Alvarez was tasked with rating the ten fighters who’ve held titles in multiple weight classes.
Alvarez lost his 155-pound belt at UFC 205 where he was stopped by Conor McGregor with the Irishman making history as the primary ever simultaneous two-weight champion.
Despite this, and his remarkable performances to win each of his belts, Alvarez doesn’t imagine that his former opponent has longevity on his side, meaning that he ranked him at #8 on the list.
“For me, I’m so time biased. To do great things, you’ve got to do them for some time. That’s real greatness and that’s a giant a part of my criteria… To me, that’s the true mark.”
In his very next selection, Alvarez had Ilia Topuria one spot above McGregor at #7.
Despite being a giant fan of ‘El Matador’, and recognizing the spectacular run that he has been on, the previous UFC champion also couldn’t put Topuria any higher because we don’t know whether he’ll have the opportunity to take care of this success within the years to come back.
“The list of men he’s beaten, I mean these are all-time greats he’s beaten in a row but I just need to see more. I would like to see an extended length of time, that’s all. I just need to see a couple of more years of being great after which we will mark him. He’s just so hard to mark right away, he’s just so brand recent. I believe some people, they’ll say primary because he just fought three days ago.”
Eddie Alvarez ranks Jon Jones as the highest UFC two-division champion
Taking the highest spot on Eddie Alvarez’s list for the best UFC two-division champions was the person that many consider to be the GOAT, Jon Jones.
While some would argue that Jones’ run at heavyweight was underwhelming, longevity was a massively essential criterion for ‘The Underground King’ when he put his list together.
Because the youngest UFC champion of all time, who never lost a title by being beaten contained in the Octagon, it’s hard to argue against ‘Bones’ on this specific area.
Alvarez said that he’s capable of put the entire controversies which have surrounded Jones to 1 side when recognizing his unmatched accomplishments.
“No matter how him and me align as human beings, it doesn’t matter. In case you’re great, you’re great… Sort of like Ilia, to do what he’s done against the best, to dispatch them the way in which he’s done and for the time period he’s done it for, I believe it’s not even to be argued.”