Ilia Topuria jokingly roasts Justin Gaethje’s dazed UFC 314 look during Joe Rogan Experience appearance

Ilia Topuria (left) makes fun of Justin Geathje (right). [Image credit: PowerfulJRE on YT, @justin_geathje on Instagram] — Ilia Topuria (left) makes fun of Justin Gaethje (right). [Image courtesy: PowerfulJRE on YT and @justin_gaethje on Instagram]

Former UFC featherweight champion Ilia Topuria recently appeared as a guest on The Joe Rogan Experience (JRE) podcast. 'La Leyenda', who relinquished his 145-pound title in order to move up to lightweight, spoke about the possible match-ups he can have at 155 pounds.

One person Topuria might very well lock horns with is former interim UFC lightweight champion Justin Gaethje. With a strong chance of both fighting each other, Topuria took a dig at Gaethje.

During the podcast, Ilia Topuria made fun of how Gaethje looked while in attendance at UFC 314 in Miami last weekend, saying:

"Justin Gaethje, I think he sleeps more at day than at night."

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When Rogan asked him if he thinks 'The Highlight' parties, Topuria said:

"I think so. They put the camera on him on the last pay-per-view and he looked like he was so high [laughs]."

Check out Ilia Topuria's comments below:

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Ilia Topuria wants to have a Champions League-type of competition between MMA teams

One of the most interesting bits of the aforementioned JRE episode was when Joe Rogan and Ilia Topuria started talking about their ideal MMA world. Rogan believes there shouldn't be organizations, just the best fighters competing on the world stage. He compared this format to boxing, which has been doing it for generations.

Topuria then suggested another interesting route: MMA teams going against each other. This concept was a tried and failed idea by the International Fight League back in the mid-2000s. However, Topuria wants to use the territory-based format and bolster it just like in football's UEFA Champions League. He said:

"How they do like the Champions League. They have, like, for example, the Real Madrid. They have a team. That's why I would do, is create a team against another team. For example, I have Real Madrid. I sign like the best seven fighters in the world, whoever I want, in different weight classes."

He added:

"And you have, for example, Barcelona. You sign the seven best fighters in the world, you train them in one place, you do like all the strategy. And then we meet each other - we do a competition - like a Champions League."

Ilia Topuria also added that each team will have at least two to three fighters in the same weight class, to avoid fight cancellations once a fighter gets injured.

Check out Ilia Topuria's comments below (30:33):

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Duane is an expert MMA writer at Sportskeeda with over 10 years of experience working for the likes of Philippine Star, Esquire Philippines, Playboy Philippines, etc. A major in English, he has written over 2000 articles for Sportskeeda section, extensively covering UFC and boxing fights.

Duane is a practicing MMA fighter with a 11-7 record. He is also a Brazilian jiu-jitsu purple belt and trains Muay Thai. His connection with MMA dates back to 2005, when he turned into a fan after watching Fedor Emelianenko defeat Mirko ‘Cro Cop’ Filipovic at Pride FC - Final Conflict 2005.

Emelianenko finds himself right at the top of Duane’s Mt. Rushmore of MMA fighters, alongside other big names like Demetrious Johnson, Jon Jones, Georges St-Pierre, and Anderson Silva.

Duane’s love for the sport is reflected in his writings, where he believes in speculating but not insinuating. He uses his intensive knowledge and skills in MMA to provide unique insights to the readers, along with sourcing information only from reliable sources.

Outside of work, Duane enjoys martial arts training, visual arts, film criticism, video games, and creative writing.

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Edited by Tejas Rathi