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Ilia Topuria has a question for you. Actually, he has a few. “Do you know how good I am?” is the first. Initially, I’m not quite sure whether I should answer on your behalf. He asks again. “Do you know how good I am?” To my relief, he quickly follows up. “I can submit him, I can knock him out. I can do with him whatever I want.” The German-born Georgian, fighting out of Spain, is not actually talking about Josh Emmett – whom he faces in a UFC Fight Night main event on Saturday. Rather, he is reflecting on his win against Bryce Mitchell. In December, Topuria submitted the submission specialist to the surprise of many, and that is why he asks: “Do you know how good I am?” It is also why he asks: “Do you know how dangerous my takedowns are, how dangerous my ground game is?” I had entered our interview presuming I would be asking the questions, but by this point, the unbeaten featherweight might have overtaken me. “I don’t care what people say about me,” he adds. “People were talking like: ‘He’s good on the ground’. I’ve been a black belt since I was 20 years old. For me, there’s no surprise if I submit Bryce Mitchell or anyone in my division. I know that I can finish anyone. Brazilian jiu-jitsu grappling is my world.” As the conversation turns to Emmett, the next obstacle in Topuria’s way as he hones in on a title shot, the 26-year-old has even more questions. “With Josh, people say: ‘His right hand is so dangerous.’ Do you know how dangerous my right hand is? Do you know how dangerous my left hand is?” The answers to all of Topuria’s questions are found fairly easily, so any frustration he has towards those fans who have missed them is understandable. Twelve of the Georgian’s 13 professional wins have coming via stoppage – eight by submission and four by knockout. Nine months before Topuria entered the featherweight top 10 with his arm-triangle choke against Mitchell, he knocked out Jai Herbert on the Briton’s home soil in London. After surviving a knockdown from a picture-perfect head kick, Topuria melted Herbert with a singing left hook to the liver and a molten right hand to the chin. While that bout took place at lightweight, it registered as a message to all UFC featherweight contenders when Topuria later dropped into the division. And, now done asking questions, Topuria has a message for you: “Shut up. Just watch the fight and enjoy.” Topuria will certainly enjoy his clash with Emmett in Jacksonville this weekend, as he looks to hand the American, 38, a second straight defeat, four months after Emmett lost to Yair Rodriguez with the interim featherweight belt on the line. “When I’m in the ring, I’m really happy and really thankful to God,” Topuria tells The Independent, “because I asked him to put me in this position. It was my goal to become a UFC champion, and this is the way I have to pass. When I go inside the cage, I feel very happy to have that opportunity, because I have the chance to fight for my dreams, and right now there are a lot of people in hospitals, [fighting] for their lives. “I’m working for my happiness every day. When I wake up, I’m not happy just for something I did in the past; I can’t live off that for my whole life. I’m just focused on myself and achieving my goals. I don’t care about anyone else – just me, my family, and my friends. That’s it.” Among the small group dearest to Topuria is his three-year-old son – already a “man”, in his father’s words. “He knows [what I do], he knows,” Topuria says. “He calls me every day, supporting me. He speaks perfectly. He’s a man. I don’t know if he’s gonna do MMA. If that’s the call [he makes], I’ll support him in anything he chooses in this life. “If he wants to fight, I’m gonna support him; if he wants to... I don’t know... study, I’m gonna support him. If it makes him happy, I don’t care. Go for that, because in this life, people are always looking for success. What’s success for me? Success is when you’re happy with yourself, that’s it.” In that sense, Topuria is already a very successful man. Winning the UFC featherweight title would only reaffirm that fact. Click here to subscribe to The Independent’s Sport YouTube channel for all the latest sports videos. Read More Topuria vs Emmett live stream: How to watch UFC Fight Night online and on TV this weekend Conor McGregor complains as his team lose yet again on The Ultimate Fighter How Ciryl Gane’s Jon Jones dream turned into a nightmare Topuria vs Emmett and full UFC Fight Night card this weekend What time does Topuria vs Emmett start in UK and US this weekend? How to watch Topuria vs Emmett online and on TV this weekend

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Russian president Vladimir Putin said the plane carrying Wagner mercenary chief Yevgeny Prigozhin was blown up from the inside and fragments of hand grenades have been found in the bodies of those killed in the crash. This is the first time Mr Putin commented on the details of the plane crash that killed Prigozhin – the mercenary leader who had challenged his regime and launched a military coup by marching onto Moscow in a dramatic threat to the Kremlin not seen in decades. "Fragments of hand grenades were found in the bodies of those killed in the crash," Mr Putin told a meeting of the Valdai Discussion Club in the Black Sea resort of Sochi, but did not share any details on the type and number of hand grenades that could have been detonated on board. He denied an external influence or targeting of the plane from the outside. "There was no external impact on the plane – this is already an established fact," he said, rejecting assertions by unidentified US officials who said shortly after the crash that they believed it had been shot down. Mr Putin said the head of Russia’s investigative committee had reported to him a few days ago. The private Embraer jet carrying the Wagner leader and the mercenary group’s co-founder along with eight other people crashed north of Moscow on 23 August. All 10 people onboard were reported dead. Mr Putin also suggested that the remains of the passengers, including Prigozhin, should have been tested for alcohol and drugs. He said he thought investigators were wrong to have not carried out these tests on the bodies of those killed in the crash. "In my opinion, such an examination should have been carried out but it was not," he said. The searches of Wagner’s offices in St Petersburg by the FSB found 10bn roubles ($100m) in cash and 5kg (11 pounds) of cocaine, he said. The investigators of the crash have yet to report publicly on the cause. Neither Wagner nor Prigozhin’s family could be reached to comment on Mr Putin’s remarks. Prigozhin had claimed pride in casting Wagner as the world’s most war-hardened fighting force and was known to have carried out Russia’s dirty work in middle-east and Africa. The mercenary fighters waged a brutal battle – dubbed the “meat grinder” – in Bakhmut last year in winter, where they eventually handed Moscow its biggest territorial gain in many months. Just two months before his death, he had accused Mr Putin’s top military brass, defence minister Sergei Shoigu and general staff Valery Gerasimov of incompetence and warned that Russia could lose the war in Ukraine unless it raised its game. The brief mutiny against Russia’s defence establishment posed the biggest challenge to Putin’s rule since the former KGB spy came to power in 1999. According to the leaders in the West, not only did it expose the strains on Russia of the war in Ukraine, it also showed the worsening relations between the Russian president and his long-time stooge. Read More Putin’s ‘punishment battalions’ full of convicts and drunk recruits: ‘They’re just meat’ Wagner succession: Yevgeny Prigozhin’s son ‘set to be next mercenary boss’ Putin orders former Wagner commander to take charge of 'volunteer units' in Ukraine ‘Weak’ Putin killed Wagner mercenary chief Prigozhin, Zelensky says