Ilia Topuria Backed By Sean O’Malley As GOAT, Over Retired Jon Jones

Many in the fighting world are gushing over and dishing large compliments towards Ilia Topuria, and former UFC 135-pound champ Sean O’Malley is no exception. Since his emergence in the UFC in 2020, it has been clear that ‘El Matador’ is a different breed of fighter and could easily pose up to be MMA’s biggest stars.

The undefeated Ilia Topuria recently took a step further on that agenda, becoming the only two-weight champ to do so with a ‘0’ at the end of his stats. Earlier this year, he arguably became the biggest phenom in combat sports with his UFC 317: Topuria vs. Oliveira PPV headliner KO. His current streak sees him indomitable, with knockout wins over legends like Alexander Volkanovski, Max Holloway, and then Charles Oliveira.

In his short time, the cocky and overconfident Spanish-Georgian star has backed his words and even promised to outdo the ‘superstar’ templates, the likes of which were set by Conor McGregor. Matter of fact, Topuria recently even went into some banter over a crossover boxing match with the icon Terence Crawford.

Formerly the bantamweight king and a Best ESPY Fighter, Sean O’Malley was a brand champ and even ran up the tab, wishing for crossover boxing. He had similar dreams, and both he and Topuria even made callouts on a few occasions. While that fight is not happening any soon, ‘Suga’ keeps a close eye and is all praises for Topuria. He even considers him the current greatest fighter, more so than Jon Jones.

Ilia is pound-for-pound the greatest fighter to ever walk this earth. The greatest fighter pound-for-pound, …[like] ever. Yeah, even over Jon Jones I think. Dude, his last three fights, KO’s Volkanovski, KO’s Max Holloway, KO’s Charles Oliveira; not beating guys by decision —— it’s super fu*king sweet.

Sean O’Malley on his Official YT Chanell (@SugaSeanUFC) | Vegas Fight Trip Recap

Although O’Malley’s praise of the 28-year-old came as a huge block of surprise, he made a strong case for Topuria winning by highlight reels. Jones and his fight acumen have made him the all-time greatest and biggest pound-for-pound name. But true to Suga and his assessment, not all his bouts went scratch-free.

Up until the very recent first-round knockout on the UFC Fight Night 260 (AKA UFC Perth) card, this Saturday, UFC LHW Dominick Reyes was one of Jones’ stiffest tests. ‘Bones’ put up two UDs, one split decision victory, once submission after a three-year hiatus, and then a KO win last November. Then again, he has logged just two fights at 265 in a span of five years.

Sean O’Malley calls Ilia Topuria the pound-for-pound best fighter ever, placing him above Jon Jones 🥇🔥

(via @SugaSeanMMA ) pic.twitter.com/aNv650KsH7

— Red Corner MMA (@RedCorner_MMA) September 30, 2025

UFC legend Dominick Cruz recently stated that Jones didn’t face a full-time fighter in his last win over Stipe Miocic (on a three-year sabbatical himself). And those like Chael Sonnen think Jones needs to prove he’s willing and work his way up to a top contender UFC HW fight to earn back his glory.

"Thank GOD he didn't accept my callout" 😳

Suga Sean O'Malley's reaction to Ilia Topuria KO'ing Charles Oliveira 💥

📹: @SugaSeanMMA #UFC317 pic.twitter.com/CJmv7WyO5h

— UFC on TNT Sports (@ufcontnt) June 30, 2025

Whereas Topuria is a cocky characterization who’d challenge anyone, everyone, and had produced stylistic KOs to back those up. UFC Exec/Vice President of Regulatory Affairs Marc Ratner even considers him a proper superstar and has him on tap if they ever make it to a Spanish PPV headliner at the 80,000+ seater Santiago Bernabeu setup.

Sean O’Malley gets why Ilia Topuria is avoiding Arman Tsarukyan

#2 lightweight on the Athletes’ Listings currently, Arman Tsarukyan was once on friendly terms with Ilia Topuria and even welcomed him to the 155 ranks. That’s when he was the top contender and was to challenge for gold before his sudden UFC 311 pullout.

Now, the Armenian weighed in as a backup fighter for UFC 317 PPV and has been calling for his shot. He even said Topuria has gotten style-friendly bouts and won’t last with a wrestler like him. Team Topuria rep Lukasz Orzel has named previous UFC lightweight top contender Justin Gaethje’s calls for title shot as a more probable option. While ‘El Matador’ himself has said Tsarukyan wasted his opportunity with injury excuses, and he’d rather vacate his gold than give him a chance.

At one juncture, it appeared unavoidable that the Spaniard and Sean O’Malley would have a champ-versus-champ fight, who had previously held sway over the 135-pound division. Even after losing his title to Merab Dvalishvili, O’Malley vowed to get back to the pecking order and have this super fight. Suga was a proper brand name with all the media backing, and he knows the “high” of that.

So, he understands that Arman could be the best stylistic option at 155-pound marks against Topuria, but also gets that Topuria is a bigger name now and why he doesn’t want any part of this fight.

Arman…[wrestler] definitely has a chance…In Ilia’s mind… Ilia’s such a massive superstar right now. It’s like, why fight Arman when you could fight Islam…or even Gaethje is a bigger fight than Arman. I think Paddy is a bigger fight, PPV draw now; [in terms of promoting] Arman is not, so it just depends on where Ilia’s head’s at.. He’s kinda like, who’s the biggest fight? I kinda get where he’s coming from…

Sean O’Malley on ‘Overdogs Podcast with Mike Perry’ (@Overdogspod)

Gaethje is a 9X “Fight of the Night” and 14-time bonus winner in 14 fights. Sassy Scouser and surging UFC lightweight Paddy Pimblett is now #7 and practically earned dibs over the Ilia Topuria fight, with a fiery octagon face-off at UFC 317 PPV. The popular and sharp-mouth Liverpudlian is also a bigger PPV draw due to his UK fan base.

Tsarukyan is none of those, and neither is the top seed anymore, until #1 lightweight Islam Makhachev officially logs his first fight as a welterweight. Is it then a case of ducking a former #1 contender? O’Malley thinks that before and after UFC 317, Topuria is just looking to get past the best name and set an era-defining legacy. To him, Tsarukyan is definitely not it.

ALSO READ: Top 5 Best Boxers in The UFC [2025 Updated Rankings]