Ilia Topuria will fight in a lightweight title unification bout this weekend at UFC Freedom 250, and a teammate who holds gold in the PFL has weighed in on this matchup. Salah Hamli is the combatant in question, and the PFL MENA champion from 2025 trains out of the same gym that Ilia Topuria does. When asked for his thoughts on the UFC White House clash with interim champ Justin Gaethje vying for Topuria’s lightweight title on June 14th, Hamli said [via Bowks Talking Bouts],

“Yeah. When I enter my gym, my first famous person I see, my first UFC fighter I see in-person is Ilia Topuria. He only have one fight when I enter the gym to start training and it’s like wow, I see him grow up. He right now fight in the white house with a legend like Justin Gaethje. I think Ilia is [on] another level. I think he finishes him in the first round and all the people will see.”

Ilia Topuria is not keen on a clash with Dagestan UFC legend

The last time Justin Gaethje competed in a lightweight title unification bout was when he fought Khabib Nurmagomedov and Ilia Topuria recently shut down a question regarding the latter. This question was asked at the UFC Freedom 250 media day, with Khabib Nurmagomedov also being an unbeaten UFC lightweight titleholder, albeit one who hung it up over half a decade ago. Addressing the Dagestan legend who retired in 2020 after submitting Gaethje and what a hypothetical battle might look like between the two, Topuria stated [via MMA Junkie],

“Leave the man alone; he’s already retired. How it would play out? I don’t know. And I guess we’re never going to know. I don’t think he’s going to come back ever. So, I have nothing but respect for Khabib, he had an amazing run in the UFC and during his whole professional career. So, right now, I think it’s not worth it to talk about him.”