Volkanovski recalls Topuria's knockout: "He got me clean, he left me snoring..."

The month of February 2024 is marked on the calendars of mixed martial arts (MMA) fans in Spain. Spanish-Georgian Ilia Topuria broke all barriers in the niche by winning the UFC featherweight belt from Alexander Volkanovski . El Matador, as he is known in the sports world, came into the fight as the underdog and made a definitive statement by knocking out the Australian star in the second round.

That milestone marked a new direction in the evolution of the sport in our country, making Ilia Topuria a huge sports figure within our borders. Since then, numerous fans have joined the mixed martial arts movement, closely following the Spanish-Georgian's next steps, which included defending his title against Max Holloway and winning the lightweight title against Charles Oliveira this year.

Now, in an interview with The Unscripted Show podcast, Volkanovski recalled that fight against Topuria . First, he acknowledged that he rushed his return to the Octagon to face El Matador, having been knocked out shortly before by Islam Makhachev while attempting to win the lightweight belt. However, the Australian acknowledged that he had never been hit with a punch like the one Topuria landed that night.

"Obviously Ilia can hit very hard, we've seen that. I've never been completely disconnected like that, I was off for a couple of minutes. A clean connection... it left me snoring," Volk noted during the interview. Regarding whether Topuria is the hardest hitter he's ever faced, his response was blunt: "I don't remember." A few months ago, Volkanovski regained his featherweight belt, after Topuria vacated it to move up to lightweight.