Forget Jake Paul, Ilia Topuria is Combat Sports’ True Fighting Champion

They were only about 260 miles apart.

But it might as well have been 260 million.

Though Jake Paul and Ilia Topuria topped competing combat pay-per-view shows from opposite ends of I-15 in California and Nevada on Saturday night, it’d be a mistake of gargantuan proportions to suggest they’re anywhere close to the same thing.

And not just because one fights in a ring and the other in a cage.

Oh sure, Paul and Topuria sound sort of similar—like two guys born within four days of one another—when suggesting their respective aims are to go down in history.

Paul insists he's chasing the sort of championship legitimacy usually borne from years of training rather than years of social media rabble-rousing. And Topuria nods when asked if he's intrigued by the idea of becoming the UFC's first three-division king.

But as for their methods, well… yeah, they’re different.

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Paul's weekend trip to the West Coast was the latest in a series of competitive bait-and-switches designed to keep device-addled sycophants engaged, with just enough perceived threat—in this case, a guy who held a title belt when Paul was still on dial-up—to make sure the latest round of checks cleared.

He'd already sold a series of UFC castoffs (Ben Askren, Anderson Silva, Mike Perry, etc.) as in-ring bogeymen before heroically vanquishing them. Then, in his greatest trick, he made people believe the 58-year-old husk of Mike Tyson still had youthful menace before winning their eight-round sleepwalk in Texas last November.

Practically speaking, beating a shopworn Julio Cesar Chavez Jr. does no more for Paul’s so-called aspirations for greatness than any of the others. And anyone who didn’t see it coming before the opening bell can’t truly be trusted with a PPV-enabled television.

But it didn’t stop the “Problem Child” from hitting familiar talking points in his go-to post-fight sales job, as if he’d just beaten Muhammad Ali, Ray Robinson and Roberto Duran all on the same night.

I’m a real boxer. I’ll be a champion. Everyone else is a hater.

Rinse. Repeat. Yawn.

“There’s a long line,” he said. “Take a f--king ticket. I’ll fight anyone, anytime, anyplace.”

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As for Topuria, let’s just say he’s been a touch more authentic.

The Spaniard reached the UFC five years ago and climbed the contender ladder with a half-dozen wins before rattling off what’s arguably the most impressive three-fight parlay in octagonal history—blowing away cinch Hall of Famers Alex Volkanovski, Max Holloway, and this time around, Charles Oliveira in a combined six rounds.

It’s netted him titles at 145 and 155 pounds so far and has now set him up for either a long run amid hot competition at lightweight or another climb to 170 that could make him the first fighter to conquer three weight classes.

At 17-0 with 15 finishes, who in their right mind would suggest it’s impossible?

“Of course, that's something that I can accomplish right now,” Topuria told Bleacher Report. “That's going to be very interesting also for me. New challenge.”

So, who’s the worthy king of another dual-event Saturday, the latest combat-splitting salvo in a prolonged firefight between Paul and Dana White?

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Some would claim that Paul’s clear edges in global recognition (he was 52nd among the highest-paid athletes in 2024) and Instagram fandom (he has 28.4 million followers to Topuria’s 9.7 million) make him the winner by default.

But if you believe that, you’ve already been brainwashed.

Though Paul’s headlining gimmickry has raised exposure for women’s boxing and the undercard quality on his shows is trending upward, too, the familiar patterns of his own so-called fights against Tyson and Chavez—promising mayhem, delivering boredom—suggest a “jump the shark” moment may have already occurred.

A loudly pro-Chavez crowd was loudly booing by the end of Saturday’s third round, just seven months after half of the giddy opening-bell audience at AT&T Stadium had headed for the exits before the final round of his fight with “Iron Mike” was underway.

Meanwhile, with Topuria, the competitive greatness needs no oversell.

He’s dignified before the fights. He’s respectful after the fights.

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And, as for the assassin-like persona he dons during the fights, it’s must-see TV.

He promised an early blowout of Oliveira days before their encounter in Las Vegas, then delivered it with as brutal a right-left combo as you’ll ever see, leaving the promotion’s all-time finishes leader in a dazed, bloody heap in less than half a round.

To suggest he’ll be among the UFC’s all-time best is hardly hyperbolic, and to miss his next steps toward the summit—particularly in favor of a click-baiting con with a growing list of competitive frauds—would be a budgeting mistake of colossal measure.

Go ahead and lay the extra 20 bucks. And don’t worry, you can thank us later.