‘Hardest’ shot Ilia Topuria has been hit with was from journeyman with just 4 wins in 10 UFC fights

Ilia Topuria almost lost his undefeated record in shocking fashion four years ago.

The UFC lightweight champion will be returning this Sunday for his first fight since achieving two-division glory at the expense of Charles Oliveira last summer.

Topuria will fight Justin Gaethje in a title unification fight, which headlines the highly anticipated UFC event on the White House lawn in Washington, D.C.

In winning both the lightweight and featherweight belts, ‘El Matador’ became the only fighter to win titles in two weight classes with an undefeated record. But one man came extremely close to stopping that piece of UFC history from happening.

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Topuria has been largely perfect inside the Octagon since signing for the UFC in 2020. He has violently charged toward the top in the promotion and knocked out numerous legends along the way.

Joe Rogan thinks Topuria could be a GOAT contender if he finishes Gaethje after already KO’ing Oliveira, Max Holloway, and Alexander Volkanovski consecutively.

Among the other fighters to suffer that fate at the hands of ‘El Matador’ is Jai Herbert, but the English journeyman did not go down without a fight.

At UFC London in March 2022, Herbert knocked Topuria down with a brutal head kick in round one. The then-future double champ later described the strike as the best he’d ever been hit with in mixed martial arts.

“That is the hardest (strike) I ever took in my experience inside the cage,” Topuria said during an interview with Shakiel Mahjouri.

“I didn’t see that kick coming,” he added.

The 38-year-old Herbert won just four of his 10 fights in the UFC. In addition to Topuria, ‘The Black Country Banger’ has also lost to Renato Moicano, Francisco Trinaldo, Fares Ziam, and Chris Padilla.

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Topuria recovered and got his revenge in devastating fashion 67 seconds into round two, spinning Herbert’s head with a vicious right hand.

Since then, only Josh Emmett has gone the distance with the Spaniard, though he was left much worse for wear after five dominant rounds for Topuria in Jacksonville.

The current lightweight champion will look to finish Gaethje as he did Herbert come fight night this Sunday. Should he achieve that feat, Topuria will push for a super-fight against Islam Makhachev up at welterweight.