“Who wins in a fight?” Ilia Topuria wrote while sharing a picture of himself and Terence Crawford on X. The Spanish-Georgian was firing back at Crawford’s earlier comments, where the boxer ranked him lower on a list of the best boxers in MMA. Doubling down later, he posted on X, “I won’t talk about what would happen between me and Crawford in an octagon, I’ll talk about what would happen in a ring. I put him to sleep in the first contact!!” Crawford, preparing for his mega showdown against Canelo Alvarez, brushed off the challenge. 

“That dude’s drunk. A lot of MMA guys drink a lot, so he must have been on that alcohol that day,” Terence Crawford said. Topuria fired back again, criticizing boxers for crossing into MMA territory. “Whenever he wants to measure himself, when he wants to test his technique and skills, I’m here to show him,” he added. Then came fight night, where Crawford walked out to ‘Cancion Del Mariachi’ by Antonio Banderas—a track famously tied to Ilia Topuria’s UFC entrances—this was dig.

Ilia Topuria fired back immediately!

After Crawford handed Canelo Alvarez his third career loss this Saturday night in Las Vegas, the 28-year-old UFC star fired back at Crawford for the walk-out music stunt during his fight. “First he calls me drunk… then he walks out to MY song,” Topuria wrote on X. “Crawford, whenever you want, I’ll teach you how to dance that mariachi in the ring. And Canelo, I’ll save you a round after him.” This just escalated the potential crossover boxing match talks between the two. 

Topuria even claimed that he could convince UFC CEO Dana White to allow him to pursue a boxing match. Regardless, not long after, Claressa Shields joined the conversation to keep the Spanish-Georgian star in check. “Shut up, he’d kick your a— too!!” Shields wrote, responding to Topuria’s tweet. If this seems like a boxer’s bias, even former UFC star Ben Askren shared his thoughts on the matter. 

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“I think Topuria is one of the best p4p in MMA, but he may be barking up the wrong tree here,” Askren wrote on X. While no solid development regarding a fight between Topuria and Crawford has been made, it has created buzz around the potential crossover matchup. While Dana White has historically opposed such fights, his entry in boxing could change that. White is set to launch Zuffa Boxing next year, which could, in theory, produce that fight. 

Regardless, Topuria isn’t the only one who is dreaming about facing Crawford.

Nate Diaz calls out Terence Crawford

Ilia Topuria isn’t the only name from the UFC who wants to square off against Terence Crawford after the latter created history by becoming the only male boxer to become undisputed in a third weight class in the four-belt era. After Saturday night’s showdown, Stockton’s own Nate Diaz became the latest MMA fighter to call out the undefeated champion.

While much of the attention centered on Crawford’s walkout to Topuria’s signature track, it was Diaz who stole the spotlight afterward with a bold statement. Taking to X, the former UFC star wrote just two words: “Crawford next,” adding a target emoji. Notably, Diaz currently has a 1-1 professional boxing record, having last appeared in the ring in July 2024, beating Jorge Masvidal.

It appears that despite Topuria’s confidence in himself, the rest of the world feels his trip to the squared circle to face Terence Crawford would be futile. Not to say that it would ever happen. But if it did, do you think Topuria stands a chance?