'All Ilia Has To Do Is Touch Him' - Demetrious Johnson Pushes Back On Alexander Volkanovski Pursuing Ilia Topuria Rematch After UFC 298

In the immediate aftermath of his defeat at UFC 298 and during an appearance at the post-fight press conference, Volkanovski outlined his desire to run it back with the newly crowned champ, even offering to do so in Topuria's home country of Spain. 

But having assessed the Aussie's performance and the sequence that resulted in him being rendered unconscious, ONE Championship titleholder Demetrious Johnson suggested that Volkanovski getting back in the cage to fight Topuria would be ill-advised.

"Should Volkanovski retire? I watched his press conference, and he still seems bubbly. There's a spirit about him where he wants to continue to fight," Johnson said on his MightyCast podcast. "But the question is, does he do an immediate rematch? For me, after listening to the press conference, Volkanovski was like, 'I was gonna start adding more things to the fight.' But when I sit here, if Ilia gets the opportunity to touch you, you're going to sleep. So, I don't know what other toolset he was gonna bring to the fight to stop Ilia from getting to him.

"If they do a rematch, all Ilia has to do is touch him. He has to run away from Ilia Topuria for 25 minutes," Johnson continued. "It's not like Alexander Volkanovski has a range advantage. I don't think Alex Volkanovski's faster than him... I truly feel like Ilia Topuria is a bad matchup for Alex Volkanovski, 'cause he doesn't get frustrated."

Volkanovski certainly doesn't share that sentiment, however, and has warned Topuria that their potential second fight will play out significantly different than the brutal KO result achieved by the Georgian-Spaniard on February 17.