UFC lightweight champion Ilia Topuria says he would knock out Terence Crawford in a boxing match.

Topuria’s comments follow after he said he would want to box the winner of Canelo Alvarez vs. Terence Crawford, who face off in an undisputed super middleweight clash on September 13. Topuria recently won the vacant UFC Lightweight Title with a knockout victory over Charles Oliveira in June at UFC 317, with a first-round stoppage. The win followed his prior stoppages against Alexander Volkanovski (UFC 298, February 2024) and Max Holloway (UFC 308, October 2024), which showed his striking prowess. Six of Ilia’s nine UFC wins have been by knockout, as he backed himself to do the same against Crawford.

I won’t talk about what would happen between me and Crawford in an octagon I’ll talk about what would happen in a ring.
I put him to sleep in the first contact !!

— Ilia Topuria (@Topuriailia) September 7, 2025