
Ilia Topuria makes bold Alexander Volkanovski claim after dominating Josh Emmett
Ilia Topuria has claimed he can beat Alexander Volkanovski ‘wherever we go’, as he eyes a shot at the UFC featherweight champion. Topuria dominated Josh Emmett in a Fight Night main event on Saturday, outpointing the American veteran before expressing his desire to fight for the title next. And the German-born Georgian, who fights out of Spain, reiterated that demand on Monday, while speaking on The MMA Hour. When asked if he would accept a fight with Volkanovski on the Australian’s home turf, the 26-year-old said: “No f****** problem. If I think I’m the best in the world, I can beat him in Australia, in Las Vegas, in Miami, in Spain – wherever we go, I beat him. Location is no problem. “Right now, I’m really focused on getting that championship belt. I want to get that title fight, which I know that I deserve. But if they come out with some offer to go to Spain and make a fight in Spain with [former champion] Max Holloway maybe... because if they told me to go to Spain to fight someone unknown, I’m not going to [accept] that fight, because I want to go for that belt. “But if they come out and they told me, ‘We want to take the UFC to Spain and you’re going to fight with Max Holloway,’ I will say, ‘Hell yes, let’s go, let’s do it.’ I want to fight in front of my people.” Volkanovski is due to defend his title against interim champion Yair Rodriguez in July, with the winner of that fight potentially next for Topuria, although Holloway stayed in the mix at featherweight by outpointing Arnold Allen in April. The Hawaiian also has a fight scheduled – a clash with the “Korean Zombie” Chan Sung Jung in September. “Like I said, one of the best skills I have is patience,” Topuria added. “I can wait. I’m young, I’m 26 years old, I enjoy life. I’m happy with everything I have, so I can wait. I didn’t rush for anything. No problem. “It doesn’t matter for me. I have the goal, which is to become the world champion, and if I have to wait, I’ll wait my whole life. Why am I not going to wait like six more months or something like that? I’m going to wait.” Click here to subscribe to The Independent’s Sport YouTube channel for all the latest sports videos. Read More Ilia Topuria: UFC’s rising star has a question for you UFC fan favourite Max Holloway to return with ‘Korean Zombie’ fight in Singapore Elon Musk and Mark Zuckerberg ‘dead serious’ about cage fight, says UFC boss
2023-06-27 18:28

Pentagon leaks suspect gets additional charges
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Nvidia Stock Is Cheap on This Metric. Why It Could Rise More Than 50%.
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Luis Diaz’s father ‘could be in Venezuela’ after kidnapping of Liverpool stars’ parents
Liverpool forward Luis Diaz was left out of the squad for Sunday's Premier League home game against Nottingham Forest after his parents were kidnapped in Colombia, with manager Jurgen Klopp saying everyone at the club was worried. Colombia President Gustavo Petro said late on Saturday that Diaz's mother had been rescued after they were kidnapped in northern Colombia, but officials were still searching for his missing father, who may have been taken to Venezuela. “The game preparation was the most difficult I’ve ever had in my life. I didn’t expect that, I wasn’t prepared for it,” Klopp said after the 3-0 victory. “I don’t want to make the game bigger than it was, but definitely, we tried to help Luis with the fight we put in because obviously we want to help and we cannot really help. “So the only thing we can do is fight for him and that’s what the boys did.” Liverpool secured their fifth straight home Premier League win to move three points behind leaders Tottenham. But Klopp said: “How can you make a football game really important on a day like this? It’s really difficult. I’ve never struggled with that in my life. “We heard late last night about it. We spoke to Luis, he wanted to go home...Then we got the news with his mum, which is fantastic, and since then nothing really. We are obviously the first people to get involved and we try to have knowledge of everything as much as we can, but we don’t want to disturb in any way the important people there, we just want to support, that’s it.” Earlier, Liverpool issued a statement saying they were aware of the situation involving Diaz's family and were focusing on the player's welfare. Diaz, who has played 43 times for Colombia, was signed by Liverpool in January last year in a deal reported to be worth 45 million euros ($47.5 million). He has scored three times for Liverpool in all competitions this season. Colombia's Attorney General Francisco Barbosa on Sunday said it was possible that Diaz's father was being taken to Venezuela, and ordered an investigation to look into the motives of the kidnapping and find those responsible. "We have information that he could, at some point, be in Venezuela. If he ends up crossing the border and he's in Venezuela, we have to ask [Colombia] President Gustavo Petro ... to help us with freeing Luis Diaz's father," Barbosa told reporters. Colombia's national police also announced payment of $48,500 (£40,000) for any information leading to his rescue. Reuters, further quotes from PA Read More Nunez scores as Liverpool show support for Luis Diaz in win over Forest Liverpool vs Nottingham Forest LIVE: Latest Premier League updates Liverpool forward Luis Diaz’s parents kidnapped by gunmen in Colombia
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Trump Cancels News Conference to Promote Election Fraud Theories
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Palestinians clash with own security forces in a West Bank refugee camp, leaving 1 dead
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